CIA-Bella Vista (AZ) named 2026 Sporting News high school boys' basketball national champions

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CIA-Bella Vista (AZ) named 2026 Sporting News high school boys' basketball national champions originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The CIA-Bella Vista [Phoenix, AZ] Bears entered the 2026 Chipotle Nationals with the same potential national championship path as the other nine teams participating in the event at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind.

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Win 'em all or go home empty-handed.

It was a tall task, considering that the Bears were only the #3 seed and ranked No. 7 in the penultimate edition of the The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Top 25. SN's top four teams were also competing in a loaded field, which included the No. 1 Dynamic Prep [Dallas, TX], No. 2 AZ Compass Prep [Chandler, AZ] Dragons, No. 3 Prolific Prep [Fort Lauderdale, FL] Crew, and No. 4 Paul VI [Chantilly, VA] Panthers.

They were also ranked behind two teams not playing in Fishers – the No. 5 Sierra Canyon [Chatsworth, CA] Trailblazers, champions of California's CIF Open Division, and the Missouri MSHSAA Class 3 state champion No. 6 Principia [St. Louis, MO] Panthers.

MORE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALLLooking back to The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Preseason Top 25

But over the course of the four-day event, CIA-Bella Vista went on a dominant run, disposing of that No. 4 Paul VI squad, 79-67, in Thursday's quarterfinals before embarrassing SN's top-ranked Dynamic Prep Friday afternoon in a lopsided 81-62 blowout. Those two wins propelled them into the Chipotle Nationals championship game on Saturday afternoon.

By then, all of those top four nationally-ranked teams had been eliminated. Suddenly, CIA-Bella Vista's path to a national title didn't seem so far-fetched.

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While CIA-Bella Vista had taken care of two of them on their own, the No. 11 Montverde [FL] Academy Eagles were taking care of business on the other side of the bracket, albeit in much-closer fashion. The Eagles defeated No. 3 Prolific Prep and No. 2 AZ Compass Prep in successive days by a combined total of three points to advance to the title game. That included a last-second win over the Crew with a walk-off dunk at the final buzzer in a 57-55 quarterfinal victory before eking out a 68-67 win over the top-seeded Dragons in Friday's semifinals.

Montverde entered Saturday's championship final as the most-decorated team in Chipotle Nationals history with 14 straight appearances in the field and seven national titles to show for their efforts. CIA-Bella Vista, on the other hand, was created just two years ago when the former Canyon International Academy merged with Bella Vista Prep to form the new program. The Bears, subsequently, were making their debut in national high school boys basketball's premier postseason event.

You would be forgiven then if you tuned into Saturday's championship game on ESPN expecting Montverde's late-season run to be the prelude to another coronation as the Chipotle Nationals champion. On the contrary, this day and this season ultimately belonged to the new prep academy from Arizona and the first from the Grand Canyon State to win the whole enchilada.

CIA-Bella Vista

Determining high school boys basketball's national champion

Unlike national high school football, basketball actually does have a series of postseason national tournaments that allow some of the nation's top teams to go head-to-head. There are the Grind Session championships, the Nike EYBL championships, and The Throne tournament in the weeks leading up to the biggest event of all – the Chipotle Nationals.

The Bears are a member of the Nike EYBL scholastic league, and they dominated that organization's championship tournament just three weeks ago, capturing the title in a 69-65 win over AZ Compass Prep National while avenging an earlier loss to the Dragons. That earned them the #3 seed heading into last week's Chipotle Nationals where they breezed through those first two contests, setting up the Saturday afternoon finale against those Montverde Academy Eagles.

Behind a 23-point, nine-assist effort from Miles Sadler, the Nike EYBL player of the year, the Bears stormed out to a huge early lead, including a 36-19 halftime advantage, en route to their second 69-65 win over Montverde Academy in the postseason. That win gave them a share of the national title as the Chipotle Nationals champion, and they added a USA Today Super 25 boys basketball national title in the aftermath.

Debating CIA-Bella Vista or Sierra Canyon 

Now, it's SN's turn to weigh in, and we've also made the determination that the Bears should carry the title of The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball National Champions.

Yes, even Sierra Canyon's 30-1 finish, including a 25-game win streak to end the season en route to California's Open Division state championship, can't match what the the Bears did over the past three weeks, winning back-to-back national postseason tournaments in events that featured 10 of the nation's Top 12 teams. Their win over No. 1 Dynamic Prep was especially notable, as it marked the second time they had beaten the Texans – the only two losses former NBA All-Star Jermaine O'Neal's squad suffered all year in a 17-2 campaign.

Following the stars

If there was ever a season when we could crown two national champions, this would be the year. But that's not how it works, and unfortunately for Sierra Canyon, California's CIF rules prohibit their champions from playing in national tournaments once the state playoffs conclude, and so we were left to break it down and compare resumés.

The Trailblazers' best two wins came against the Columbus [Miami, FL] Explorers, the defending SN national champions who went on to win The Throne tournament, one of those other major national postseason events. That allowed the Explorers to climb all the way back to No. 10 in our final rankings here. Sierra Canyon's single loss, meanwhile, came in a 57-52 setback against a Bishop McNamara [Forestville, MD] Mustangs' squad that finished just 14-20.

On the other hand, CIA-Bella Vista's four losses in a 26-4 campaign all came against Nike EYBL opponents that were all ranked in the Top 12 playing in Fishers for the Chipotle Nationals championship. Additionally, they had a total of eight wins against teams ranked in our final top nine, including two wins against three of those teams – No. 3 Dynamic Prep, No. 6 Montverde Academy, and No. 9 SPIRE Academy [Geneva, OH]. Finally, they also had wins over over No. 5 Paul VI and No. 7 AZ Compass Prep.

Better wins and better losses – that was ultimately the difference that separated CIA-Bella Vista from Sierra Canyon.

CIA-Bella Vista's schedule and path to SN's 2026 national title

Here's a full look at CIA-Bella Vista run to the SN national title along with how the Bears progressed week-by-week in our national rankings.

DATERNKOPPPONENTRESULT10/23No. 14PSAT Academy National62-53, W11/11No. 14AZ Compass 290-41, W11/28No. 14Oak Hill Academy70-59, W11/29No. 14vs. SPIRE Academy71-68, W12/4No. 14PHH Prep National85-51, W12/12No. 14The St. James Performance Academy82-53, W12/14No. 14Mount Zion71-62, W12/16No. 14Dynamic Prep65-61, W12/19No. 14Prolific Prep58-80, L12/21No. 14Gillion Academy National85-64, W1/2No. 14Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy66-52, W1/3No. 14AZ Compass Prep National59-63, L1/10No. 5Tennessee Collegiate Academy83-64, W1/11No. 5Long Island Lutheran91-65, W1/18No. 6IMG Academy67-32, W1/22No. 6Varsity Opponent74-36, W1/23No. 6Wasatch Academy48-75, L2/7No. 13Layton Christian Academy73-36, W2/12No. 12Dream City Christian National73-64, W2/14No. 12Link Academy62-68, L2/20No. 12Utah Prep68-57, W2/21No. 12Sunrise Christian Academy71-49, W2/27No. 12Veritas Academy73-52, W3/12No. 11Long Island Lutheran*65-51, W3/13No. 11Montverde Academy*69-65, W3/14No. 11SPIRE Academy National*70-53, W3/15No. 11AZ Compass Prep National*69-65, W4/2No. 7Paul VI**79-67, W4/3No. 7Dynamic Prep**81-62, W4/4No. 7Montverde Academy**69-65, W

* — Nike EYBL scholastic league championship
** — Chipotle Nationals championship

CIA-Bella Vista entered the season ranked No. 14 in The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Preseason Top 25 where they stayed until our weekly rankings debuted on January 3. By then, the Bears had risen to the No. 5 position, but a 75-48 loss to Wasatch Academy sent them tumbling to No. 13 in the first rankings issued in February.

The Bears languished just outside the Top 10 for the rest of the regular season, settling in at No. 11 heading into the Nike EYBL scholastic league championships in mid-March at the Riverview Park Activities Center in North Augusta, S.C. The Bears then went on a four-day tear through the competition, defeating Long Island Lutheran (65-51), Montverde Academy (69-65), SPIRE Academy National (70-53), and AZ Compass Prep National (69-65) in successive days to capture the league crown.

Three of the teams they faced in the EYBL championships were also at the Chipotle Nationals, and they ultimately faced Montverde Academy in the title game at Fishers beating them by the same exact score (69-65) they had beaten them three weeks prior in North Augusta.

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