KNOXVILLE – North Mahaska’s quest for a return to the state boys’ basketball tournament came to an end Tuesday night in Knoxville. North Mahaska faced South Iowa Cedar League champion Lynnville-Sully and came up short 62-42. The contest was much closer than the final score indicated.

The loss also meant the end to the career of five seniors, three of them major contributors for the past four years. Lane Harmon, Braden Steel and Nash Smith ended their stellar high school careers all topping the 1,000-point plateau as well as earning all-conference accolades, but it was a sad ending just the same. Senior Drake Hall was limited in his playing time due to injury and only played the past three weeks. Ethan Huffman saw action last season and came to earn a starting spot this season.

“It is really hard to say good-bye to these guys,” said NM coach Seth Streebin. “Lane was just a consistent ball player for us. We leaned a lot on Nash and Braden our garbage man picking up our loose balls.

“Ethan started to It is too bad Drake didn’t have the senior season he liked. He could have put it on the shelf, but he stuck it out and once he was cleared to play, he was at practice that day. They made a great impact on our team this year.”

North Mahaska (19-5) opened the game with a 3-pointer and basket by Harmon. Smith added another as the Warhawks jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the game. Lynnville-Sully (22-2) struggled to get shots to fall early but came back to trail the Warhawks 9-7. Junior Nolan Andersen hit a three and Huffman added a trey and lane runner to take a 17-11 lead. The final five minutes of the second quarter the Hawks outscored NM 20-9.

North Mahaska pulled within four points of the Hawks when Andersen hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play. With 3.9 left in the half the Hawks’ Corder Noun Harder was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one. He missed the shot but Preston Rodibaugh tipped the ball out to mid-court where Conner Maston ripped a basket to give LS a 31-24 advantage.

“That was a big shot and momentum shift,” said Streebin. “Sully is a good team and played well,” said Streebin. “That shot at the end of the half was huge. We made some mistakes and they hit shots when they needed to.”

North Mahaska was held scoreless through the first three minutes of the second half as LS pulled ahead. Foul trouble came into play as Harmon picked up his fourth foul at the 5:43 mark of the third. The Hawks held a 46-38 lead entering the final period and was able to extend lead hitting 8-of-13 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Smith and Andersen led the NM scoring with 10 points apiece. Huffman scored nine and Harmon had five. Steel pulled down seven rebounds and Smith grabbed six.

Conner Maston led LS and all scorers with 22 points. Mitchell Miller scored 15 and Rodibaugh had 10.

Lynnville-Sully will face No. 4 Gladbrook-Reinbeck Saturday at Marshalltown at 7 p.m.