A last-second heave from mid-court fell short as the buzzer sounded on the DeKalb Middle School’s dream season Saturday, the 18-2 Saints eliminated in the first round of the James C. Haile Tournament in Murfreesboro by Prescott, 32-29.

The loss came after the Saints failed to score a single basket in the first five minutes of the fourth period. The scoring drought saw the 22-22 tie in which they had entered the final quarter turn into a 10-point deficit with just one minute left on the clock. Despite the ticking of the clock, the Saints were not done as they went on a scoring rampage in the last minute behind a three pointer by Zachary Birmingham and a couple of fast break baskets off turnovers by Stetson Agee and Elishah Ramos. However, the hole ended up too deep to dig out of as the Saints were left with only a half-court heave at the buzzer which fell short of the rim.

Coach Cody Randolph admits his squad expected to win Saturday and continue in their march to a state title. Their only other loss came when they fell victim to a last-second heave by Sparta early in the season.

“I was pretty disappointed about the Prescott game,” he said. “Especially after having such a great regular season. Going in, I felt confident that we had a team that could beat them.”

Coach Randolph noted that a cool start to the game where his squad didn’t score a single field goal in the first period likely had an impact on how the game turned out. However, he said he is proud of the way the Saints battled back at the end.

“I’m very proud of this team,” the coach said. “We had an exciting year. This is a great group of guys that absolutely love basketball and hate losing. As coach, that is all you can ask for in your players and I’m excited about how these eighth graders are going to contribute to the basketball culture at the high school over the next few years. As for the ones returning, I am anticipating much of the same. We have a very talented seventh and sixth grade group and I am anxious to see what they will do.”