PORTERSVILLE — Paul Harbison is going out on top.

Involved in coaching Portersville Christian School basketball for 20 years, the Butler resident is stepping down after guiding the Warriors to their second consecutive Southwest Christian Athletic Conference title and National Christian School Athletic Association championship.

“We had never even won the SWCAC before last year,” Harbison said.

He has been coach of the boys varsity team for three seasons.

The Warriors finished 32-9 overall this season after compiling a 33-1 mark last year. They are 30-0 in SWCAC play the past two years.

“Most of these kids have been playing together for six years now,” Harbison said. “They are very coachable and have a lot of basketball sense.

“Often times, I let them read the defense and figure out the play on the court rather than call a time-out.”

The NCSAA tournament is a 72-team affair hosted by Mount Vernon Nazarene College in Ohio. It is divided into seven divisions, based on size of school.

Portersville Christian won the Division IV portion of the tournament and played three games in three days to win the national title.

Victories were 68-47 over Monclova Christian of Ohio, 57-46 over Mountain View Christian of Winchester, Va., and 48-42 over Shalom Christian of Chambersburg in the championship game.

Prospect resident Stephan Graham, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at PCS, had 18 defensive rebounds in the title game. He averaged 30 points per game in the tournament and made the all-tournament team.

Justin Harbison, the coach’s son, is the Warriors’ 6-foot-2 point guard and made the all-tournament team as well.

“He’s the fourth son I’ve had come through this program,” Coach Harbison said.

Graham and Harbison are seniors. Graham will continue his basketball career at Cedarville College in Ohio while Harbison will be playing soccer at Geneva College.

“We’ve got players on this team from seven school districts,” Coach Harbison said. “Our five starters combine for a 3.7 grade point average in school.”

The other starters are a pair of 6-2 forwards in Eli Grove and Elijah White — both from the Seneca Valley district — and 5-8 guard Austin Patterson from Ellwood City.

Lee Saunders, Jr., head administrator at PCS, pointed out that more than one of every five students at the school participates in a sport there. PCS offers soccer, volleyball, archery and basketball.

“We have 250 students and 54 are involved in a sport,” Saunders said. “Many of them participate in more than one.

“Most kids feel comfortable playing basketball. That’s our most popular sport.”

He said members of the basketball team “work very hard on developing their skills and it’s paid off for them.”

Other members of the PCS boys basketball team are Seth VanGent, Ben Hurta, Riley Pritchard, Eli Stroh, Dalton Arblaster, Caleb Yauger, Aidan Ramsey and Drew Ramsey.

Assistant coaches are Matt Harbison, Dan Graham and Todd White.