Tyler HEAT will be competing at nationals. (Contributed)

BULLARD — With their first regional championship in hand, the Tyler HEAT are now headed to Springfield, Missouri, with their eyes set on a national basketball championship.

“When we started this program 10 or 11 years ago, that was kind of the big deal, the regional,” Tyler HEAT head boys basketball coach Ryan Tomlin said. “Nationals, we never really even looked at because we didn’t think we would really be in that kind of spotlight. But regionals was one we wanted to compete at least in the top six or seven.”

According to the organization’s website, HEAT originated as Home Education Athletics of Tyler but has expanded to become Home Education Athletic Teams. The acronym has a secondary meaning of “He Enables All Things,” for HEAT’s purpose is to glorify God through providing home school families the opportunity to participate in competitive secondary level team sports.

In the previous three years at the National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships Big South Regional in Frisco, Tyler HEAT recorded finishes of third, fifth and ninth place. But they had yet to reach the regional final.

That changed with a 57-47 semifinal victory over San Antonio Patriots, putting Tyler HEAT into the championship contest.

In the championship game, Waker Hartman poured in 36 points in a 76-66 victory over the Houston Raiders.

“For our guys, it was a huge deal,” Tomlin said. “We had never been in that championship, of course. It’s been a goal of ours to get in the championship game with an opportunity to win it. And we’ve been close. Last year, we were one point away from going. So it was good to make it and win it.”

“The feeling was great,” Hartman said. “Going in there and falling short every time, it felt like we left it out there. Finally this year, it was super rewarding to go in there and win.”

“It was amazing,” senior Eli Anderson said. “As soon as that buzzer went off, it kind of sunk it. We knew we made history. We knew before the game that this has never happened before. We just went out there and played our hardest, and the outcome was a win.”

Now, Tyler HEAT will compete in the NCHBC Championships Monday through Friday in Springfield, Missouri.

Tyler HEAT is headed to the national tournament for the fifth straight year and has finished in the top 10 once in 2023. Last year, the team had a top 16 finish.

Tyler HEAT (39-2) is a 1-seed and will open against the Bluegrass Blazers (Kentucky) at 12:30 p.m. Monday at AGFinancial Arena on the campus of Evangel University. With a win, Tyler HEAT would advance to face either STL Blue Knights (Missouri) or Fort Wayne Hawks (Indiana) at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.

“We are going in as a No. 1 seed, but we are not satisfied,” senior Coen Starr said. “I think we have a mindset that we still have something to prove. Hopefully we can go into nationals and prove more.”

Tyler HEAT has won 23 consecutive games since a 63-56 loss to Commerce on Dec. 13, 2024. The only other loss this season was a 67-57 setback to Martin’s Mill, which won the UIL Class 2A Division 2 championship on Thursday.

“The key has been everybody buying in and willing to play defense,” Hartman said. “We are not so worried about the individual part, but just the whole team being happy for each other and all coming toward one goal, which is to win the championship.”

“Obviously the Lord gave us our great talents, but we are all just very connected,” Starr said. “We shared the ball and work very well together. We are also tight-bonded, just hanging out and being a family. We want to create a culture here, and we hope that keeps going beyond this. I think the culture we have has helped us with our 39-2 season.”

Tim Stone, who coaches Salt and Light Homeschool out of Houston, sent an email to the Tyler HEAT coaching staff following their regional championship. In the email, Stone said, “Your young men put on an exhibition that was just amazing. Their defense was fundamentally solid from beginning to end. Watching them on the offensive end was like watching a symphony with every part playing their role and complementing each other. Their patience and poise on offense was unlike most basketball today. I walked away thinking that was one of the best displays of team basketball I’ve seen in years.”

“That’s just the greatest compliment to me,” Tomlin said. “You’re talking about a total team, 11 guys, that no matter what the score is, they don’t ever think they’re out of it. They play so well together. Nobody cares who scores. And we can shoot the ball pretty well. When you have a lot of guys that can shoot it well, you’re always in games. They play hard on defense, and defense is very important to them.”

For the seven Tyler HEAT seniors, the national tournament will be the end for them. For Tomlin, it will also be the end as he wasn’t originally set to coach this year.

“It’s been a blessing to coach them,” Tomlin said. “I honestly was not coming back this year to coach. Jack graduated, so I didn’t have any more kids playing, so I wasn’t going to coach. Some of them talked to me about coach, so I did it one more year. I love the guys. I’ve been with a lot of these guys for so long coming up. I’m so thankful. I would’ve missed out on a whole lot if I wouldn’t have done it.”

Team members include: senior Eli Anderson, senior Waker Hartman, senior Coen Starr, senior Ben Tiemann, junior Trey Madrid, senior John Hall, sophomore Eli Maldonado, junior Jet Bell, senior Kedren Penney, senior Aiden Shelton and junior Nathan Barnes.