The Boys’ Varsity basketball team gave all they had on Friday evening in a pivotal regional championship game against the Maine South Hawks but they came away empty handed in a 54-32 loss.

Maine South’s defense was stifling from buzzer to buzzer, and as a result the Wolves struggled to create an efficient offense.

The team maintained its unselfish mindset when senior Alex Darville sacrificed his body and took a charge. Maine South was fueled for the entire game, however, by a crowd dressed in tropical clothing as if they were headed to Hawaii and gave West no breathing room in the contest.

It seemed as if every time Niles West appeared to gain momentum it was shot down immediately by a Hawks bucket, igniting the mocking crowd.

The Wolves came into the game exhausted from an overtime victory just 24 hours earlier and had no chance to practice before the deciding showdown, but head coach Bob Williams refused to blame fatigue for the loss.

“Yeah, maybe we were (tired) but I’m not one to make excuses. We struggled some and missed a few open shots. I felt like some of our guys worried and as a result hurried up — that’s the worst thing to do in a game like this,” he said

In the end, Williams said he was proud of his team’s very successful season.

“I thought our kids competed, worked hard and overall did very well,” he said.