The Van Buren Bulldogs came into the Big Springs Conference Championship game as the two seed and the underdog to the top seeded Alton Comets, who came into the championship game on somewhat of a roll, winning rather easy the first two rounds under their new coach Norm Hollis. However, when the game tipped off you could quickly tell that the Bulldogs were the ones that were playing with the most energy. They had come to play and knew they had a chance to win, even if Alton did too. 

It seemed they were feeding early off of head coach Jacob Black's energy on the sideline. With some hot three-point shooting from Seniors Jacob Brown and Conner Jackson, the Bulldogs ran out of the gate to a first quarter lead of 19-8, more than doubling up the Comets. As the second quarter got underway, the Comets seemed to realize they had a game on their hands and were able to play virtually even in the second quarter for a halftime score of 33-21 Bulldogs. The Bulldogs came out in the second half with more of that intense three point shooting and some more of their work horse in the middle, Junior Hayden Barnes. By time the fourth quarter started , the Comets were down 44-29, and although they were down, they were not out. They started to play more like the crowd expected. Senior, Drew Clary started taking the game over on the offensive end with bucket after bucket, and with some help from Junior Cainan Heck, who pumped in 10 second-half points, they were able to close the game to just a one point lead. 

The Bulldogs were not about to let the game slip away. Senior, Trey Nicholson started flashing to the high post for several mid-range jumpers to keep Van Buren in front and go on to win the Big Springs Conference Championship and run their record to 14-4 on the season. The Bulldogs had a commendable night as 20 years ago, the Van Buren Bulldogs also won this tournament. They were led in scoring by Junior Hayden Barnes with 22 points Senior, Jacob Brown with 16 points and Senior Trey Nicholson with 12 points. The Alton Comets were led in scoring by Senior Drew Clary with 26 points and Junior Cainan Heck with 10 points.