MENDENHALL — Twice, the Lamar boys made it close. Twice, Hartfield Academy responded and put the game out of reach.

After trailing 28-17 at the half, Lamar was able to tie the game 36-36 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter before Hartfield hit a field goal to take a 38-36 advantage into the final period. After the Hawks opened the fourth on an 8-0 run, Lamar again managed to chip away at the lead and trail only 48-45 with two minutes remaining.

But the Hawks finished the fourth quarter by outscoring Lamar 8-0 to take a 56-45 win in the consolation game of the MAIS Class AAAA, Division II state tournament. The loss eliminated Lamar from postseason play, as a berth in the MAIS Overall tournament next week was on the line.

“I thought we played hard, in the second half especially,” Raiders coach Josh Sherer said. “We turned the jets on and started diving. We took two charges, and that’s just tough-man basketball. They hit two 3s late, critical 3s. I thought if we’d have played the first half like we did the second, it would have been a little bit of a different story, but we didn’t. Still, I was proud. I love this group. I told them in the locker room I enjoyed coaching this group. They worked, and they made it enjoyable to coach them every day. They’re great kids, we just didn’t get to move on.”

Lamar trailed just 12-8 after the first quarter, but a nine-point second quarter put the Raiders behind by 11 at the break.

Demarcus Powe led Lamar with 16 points, and Joseph Hutchinson added 15 points for the Raiders. Ross Polizzi had nine points, and Logan Lamar finished with five points.

Logan Lamar, William Lamar and Hutchinson were the lone seniors on the team, and Sherer said they’ll all be difficult to replace next year. He reiterated how much he enjoyed coaching the entire group of players this winter.

“Their leadership was very important,” Sherer said. “They’re some of the best leaders I’ve ever had. They were willing to say what needed to be said, even to me, whether it was, ‘Coach, let’s adjust or do this.’ I probably gave them more freedom to them than I ever have in my 16 or 17 years of coaching, whatever it is. I was very proud of the way we responded this year. Obviously, we’d love to have them for another year, but we don’t. We’re still a young group, so we’ll have to find a way to get better next year and move on.”