The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Final Top 25 — April 8: CIA-Bella Vista wins its first national title

The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Final Top 25 — April 8: CIA-Bella Vista wins its first national title originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The national high school boys basketball season has concluded with the Chipotle Nationals championship putting a bow on an exciting season that ended with the CIA-Bella Vista [Phoenix, AZ] Bears winning the crown .

The winner of the Chipotle Nationals is considered a national champion, and by virtue of their win, CIA-Bella Vista automatically clinched a share of the crown. That led to further accolades when USA Today named the Bears their national champions as well . Then it was our turn at The Sporting News to make a decision, and we laid out our case for CIA-Bella Vista's title as The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball National Champion here .

CIA-Bella Vista also finished atop the MaxPreps Prep School rankings although MaxPreps also separates prep academies from traditional schools where the Paul VI [Chantilly, VA] Panthers finished at the top of the list. Here at The Sporting News, CIA-Bella Vista entered the season ranked No. 14 in The Sporting News High School Boys Basketball Preseason Top 25 before moving into the Top 5 when our weekly rankings began in January.

After a one-sided loss to Wasatch Academy, they slipped back out of the Top 10 in our February rankings where they spent the rest of the season trying to find their way back in. It finally happened when they won the Nike EYBL Championships, and they were ranked No. 7 headed in our pentultimate rankings released on March 31 just prior to the start of last weekend's Chipotle Nationals.