Butler Release | All-Tournament Team

GREAT BEND, Kan. – Needing not one but two second-half comebacks in as many days, the Butler Community College men’s basketball team put together a pair of thrilling victories to capture the 2026 NJCAA Region 6 Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship for the first time since 2022-23.

Securing their spot in the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball National Tournament next week at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas, the Grizzlies follow up their Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference regular season co-title by winning the Region 6 title for the 10th time in program history.

After advancing to the semifinal round with relative ease on Tuesday night with a 101-87 win over number 10 seed Fort Hays Tech Northwest, the Grizzlies found themselves playing in the fourth and final semifinal on Friday night inside Fleske Fieldhouse against number six seed Cowley College who advanced following an upset over number three seed Dodge City earlier in the week. Against the Tigers, Butler was looking for redemption after falling to Cowley 58-54 in the 2025 NJCAA Region 6 Tournament semifinal round and saw a slow start create a 48-42 halftime deficit on Friday evening. Nine turnovers and a 33.3 percent (12-of-36) shooting percentage in the opening 20 minutes played a key role in Butler trailing by six at the halftime break, with the Grizzlies coming out intermission by scoring 12 of the first 15 points of the second half to grab a 54-51 lead with just 2:37 into the half. Cowley responded by tying things at 57-57 with 15:26 left in the game as three lead changes and two ties followed over the next three minutes of play. With neither team able to take control of the game and build a lead, things appeared to be turning in favor of Butler as a Josiah Kirkwood triple put the Grizzlies up 74-67 just to see Cowley respond by scoring 11 of the next 15 points to get back within two at 80-78. The Grizzlies once again extended their lead by going on an 8-2 run to take an 88-82 lead just to see Cowley come right back with an answer and this time tie things up at 93-93 with 2:46 left in the game. A breakaway dunk for Marcus Smith put Cowley up 95-93 with 1:41 remaining as both teams started to use the charity stripe to add to their scoring which allowed the Tigers to hold a 102-99 lead with 22 seconds left. A quick triple from Devin Kerr with 15 seconds left tied things at 102-102 just to see the Grizzlies foul Cowley’s CJ Majors out of a called timeout and allow the Tigers to retake the lead at 104-102 with just over eight seconds remaining. Choosing not to use their final timeout, Butler inbounded the ball and saw Kirkwood drive down the court before being cut off at the top of the three-point line where he instead decided to throw up a step-back shot that banked in with 1.5 seconds remaining to put Cowley up 105-104. A desperation shot just past half-court from the Tigers wound up off the mark, allowing Butler to survive and advance to Saturday’s Championship game to set up a battle with regular-season KJCCC co-champion Barton.

Playing on shortened rest and faced with the task of taking on Barton inside their home gymnasium, Butler was seeking their first win of the season over the Cougars after dropping both regular season decisions to Barton by a combined total of 13 points. What started out as a back-and-forth battle in the opening minutes, Barton managed to take control following an 8-8 tie by scoring six straight points while holding Butler scoreless for four-plus minutes only to see the Grizzlies turn defense into offense to reclaim the lead at 19-18. Another scoring drought for Butler allowed the Cougars to reclaim the lead and push things out to a 29-21 advantage at the under eight-minute media timeout before reaching double-digits at 34-23 on an Aris Rodriguez made three. The lead for Barton remained in double-digits until just over four minutes left in the first half when Devin Kerr made a Butler three to pull the Grizzlies back to 39-30 as things bounced back and forth between an eight-and-14-point Barton lead before settling at 48-37 heading into halftime.

Two things the Grizzlies had playing in their favor in the second half was the up-tempo pace that Butler forces teams to play at as well as Barton having given up double-digit second-half leads on more than one occasion throughout the season, with an 8-2 spurt to open the second half bringing BCC back within five at 50-45. A response from Barton pushed the lead back to 11 at 59-48 before another 8-2 run by Butler brought things right back to where they were prior to the Cougar response as teams continued to trade runs back and forth. Butler finally managed to close within a single possession at 71-69 with 10:24 remaining in the game before tying the game at 73-73 and re-take the lead at 79-73 to cap off a 9-0 run.

Barton responded by scoring six of the next nine points to trail 82-79 with just over eight minutes remaining just to see Butler go up 90-82 two minutes later. The Grizzly lead grew to double digits at 97-87 following a Tristan Hankins made shot off a Cougar turnover with 4:10 left before seeing free throws begin to become a factor as both teams continually made their way to the charity stripe down the stretch. In the final minutes of the game, Butler managed to keep Barton at arm’s length, never letting the Cougars get closer than five at 100-95 with 1:00 left before pulling away by scoring seven of the next 10 points to add to their lead and finish off an eight-point victory.

Taking over when things mattered most, Tristan Hankins was named Tournament Most Valuable Player after scoring 35 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the Tournament Championship game for the Grizzlies after scoring 14 points and hauling in eight rebounds in Friday night’s win against Cowley. 19 of Hankins’ 35 points and eight of his 13 rebounds against Barton came in the second half as the KJCCC regular season Freshman of the Year and Co-MVP added four assists in both games and had three total steals. Also named to the All-Tournament team from Butler was Josiah Kirkwood after averaging 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds per contest, which included a 13-point, nine-rebound outing against Barton. Barton’s Aris Rodriguez and Noah Williams, along with Roman Miller (Cowley), and Antonio Williams Jr. (Seward County) also earned All-Tournament team honors for their play over the weekend.

Butler will find out their official 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball National Tournament fate on Monday, March 16th at 5 PM (CDT) when the NJCAA D1 Men’s Basketball Tournament selection show will take place live on the NJCAA Network (www.njcaa.org/network). The 16 district tournament winners who earned automatic berths to the tournament will be joined by eight at-large teams to make up the 24-team tournament field, which will compete March 21-28 inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas. In Butler’s last trip to the National Tournament, the Grizzlies earned the number 10 seed and defeated number 23 seed Roane State 85-66 in the opening round before dropping a 71-59 decision to number seven seed and eventual National runner-up Northwest Florida State in the second round.