The Portersville Christian's boys' basketball team might have had an up-and-down season, but it certainly wrapped things up in style.

Justin McCandless had a big hand in that.

The Warriors competed in the recent Christian High School National Basketball Tournament at Family Sports Park in Erie with a 10-14 record.

They won all four games in their bracket before losing 80-53 in the championship final to Grace & Truth of Rochester, N.Y.

McCandless, a sophomore guard from Slippery Rock, averaged 15.8 points, 6.4 assists, 6.0 rebounds and three 3-pointers per contest and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

"It was fun," said McCandless on his team's run through the open tournament. "Our team struggled throughout the year, but we went up there and everyone pulled together.

"We always seem to be good at the beginning and good at the end. During the season, we seem to struggle," he added."

The Warriors (14-15) opened the tournament March 10 with a with a 79-33 rout of Tri-State Christian Academy of Burgettstown and followed up with a 70-64 decision over First Assembly Christian Academy of Erie later that day.

McCandless had 40 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists combined for the two games.

The next day, Portersville dispatched Troy Christian Academy of Garrettsville, Ohio. 70-54 and Kankakee (Ill.) Trinity Academy 62-51.

McCandless had 19 points and five assists against Troy and 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Kankakee as the Warriors reached the championship final.

"No one expected us to play well," said McCandless. "We just shocked everyone."

In the final, McCandless had seven points and six assists as Portersville saw its season end with a loss.

"He puts in more practice time on his own than any player I know," said Warriors coach Bob Cummins. "He played AAU ball last summer and he's probably our best ball handler and best shooter.

"Our offense is not created for him to score, but he has the ball 30 to 40 percent of the time to initiate our offense," Cummins added.

McCandless finished the season averaging 11.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game and sank 54 treys.

In the past three years, McCandless has been building quite a basketball portfolio.

In eighth grade, he was the junior high MVP then was named to the All-Star team of the Westminster College and Baptist Bible College basketball camps for 2003.

Last year, his awards ranged from MVP and Shooter of the Day at the Born-To-Run AAU camp, All-Star at the Baptist Bible College camp and Best 3-point Shooting at an All-Star contest.

At the Geneva Basketball Camp last July, he received the All-Star, Best Defensive Player and Shooting Long Range awards.

"Justin's worked hard to improve his defensive skills," said Cummins. "He still has some work to do, but he has the ability to take charge."

Despite the success in the tournament, McCandless was the only Warrior on the all-tournament team.

Josh Aikens had 20 or more points in three games and 18 points or more in four games while Jesse Hogan had registered three double-doubles.

Christian Manz and Aaron Kniess also had games where they reached double figures in scoring.

"This year's team had such a good year," said McCandless. "We were able to spread the ball around. That's why I had so many assists."