During the week of Jan. 16-21, the team participated in the West Coast Baptist College National Winter Classic Basketball Tournament held in Lancaster, Calif., located about one hour north of Los Angeles.

The tournament included sixteen teams from other Christian schools located throughout the country including Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and California. The team played a total of four games during the tournament and finished with two wins and two losses to place sixth overall.

While they didn’t win the tournament title, the players and coaches were proud of their accomplishment considering they were one of the smallest school represented in the tournament.

After arriving in Los Angeles on Monday and touring Hollywood and Los Angeles, the Patriots enjoyed a late afternoon pre-tournament banquet on Tuesday and had their first game of the tournament that night against Calvary Christian School from Banning, Calif.

Heritage held a 10-point lead at the half and never allowed the opponent to gain momentum during the second half as it opened with a 57-38 victory.

The Patriots were led by Joseph Lambert (22 points and 24 rebounds), David Dupree (15 points and six rebounds), Mitchell Williams (8 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and 10 assists), and Spencer House (6 points, six rebounds and five assists).

On Wednesday, the Patriots had a noon matchup with Front Range Baptist Academy from Fort Collins, Colo.

Heritage played tough early and trailed 19-15 at the end of the first quarter, but the Falcons finished strong to give the Patriots their first loss of the tournament, 62-35.

The Patriots were led by Lambert (11 points and 10 rebounds), Williams (10 points, five rebounds, five steals and seven assists), Dupree (8 points) and Colby Stepp (five rebounds and three blocks).

Play began early for the Patriots on Thursday with a 7:30 a.m. matchup with Calvary Baptist Christian School from Fairfield, Calif.

The two teams were tied at the half, 24-24, and Heritage trailed by 3 points at the end of the third quarter. But the fourth quarter belonged to the Patriots, who were able to pull out a 54-52 victory.

Williams led the Patriots with 23 points comprised of seven 3-point makes. He also had five and five assists. Other leaders in Heritage’s second win were Lambert (15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks), Dupree (10 points and five rebounds) and Stepp (4 points and 11 rebounds).

Later that afternoon the team competed in its final game of the tournament against Granite Baptist School from Glen Burnie, Md., and was defeated 48-15.

The Patriots were never able to get on track and were eliminated from the tournament by the Braves.

The Patriots were led in the final game by Williams (9 points, seven rebounds and six steals), Dupree (4 points and three blocks), Stepp (2 points and eight rebounds) and Lambert (11 rebounds).

Although the team did not play on Friday, it did enjoy watching some intense basketball from the final four teams remaining in the tournament. At the end of the day, Temple Baptist School from Herndon, Va., defeated Pacific Baptist School from Long Beach, Calif. in the championship game.