“We felt pretty good about things halfway through the third quarter,” Maple Mountain head coach Johnny Averett said. “We’re up six or eight or whatever, then we just went ice cold then we’ve ever been, and it just snowballed.”

Maple Mountain was outscored 13-9 in the third quarter but the final stanza was particularly painful for the Golden Eagle faithful as the Panthers put up 30 points compared to just 19 for the home team.

“That fourth quarter, the drought we went on, that was the difference,” added the Golden Eagle head coach.

But Averett was quick to praise the opposing team.

“Credit to them, they hit some really tough shots,” Averett said. That one shot (Elijah) Albertson, No. 15 there, that baseline shot he hit was awesome. He made it tough on us all night long.”

Albertson did lead all Panther scorers putting up 19 points. He hit the long 3-pointer Averett noted but had a complete game with six rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

West did a lot of damage inside the paint. Saimu Taukiuvea went to work inside adding 17 points along with three rebounds.

“Number 44 (Taukiuvea) was a load,” Averett said. “He was tough for us to defend and he was also a big difference maker.”

Two other Panther players reached double figures as Mathew Fox pointed 13 and point guard Falatea scored 10. But each added other key ingredients to help the Panthers advance.

Fox connected on three 3-pointers to go along with four rebounds and two assists, while Faletea also added a trio of three-pointers, to go along with eight assists, four rebounds and one steal. Faletae’s three-pointer with just over two minutes left was the dagger that really put the game away for the Panthers.

West was also strong at the charity strike as David Garcia came off the bench and went 6-for-6 in his free throws.

Besides West being hot from the field and making their foul shots, Averett said another key element was his team committing too many turnovers.

“I remember we had a silly turnover and it just snowballed from there,” Averett said.

Even in defeat, Maple Mountain did get some strong efforts and led 18-12 after the first quarter and 34-31 at the break.

Solomon Krommenhoek had a game-high 20 points for the Golden Eagles. The senior had two 3-point buckets and added two rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Nash Jackson provided a strong inside game for Maple Mountain with nine rebounds. He also scored 13 points knocking down a trio of three-balls to go along with three assists and a steal.

Golden Eagle point guard Jack Bench scored 12 points, dished out a team-high five assists but also had three rebounds and a steal. Britton Richmond also added eight points.

Maple Mountain will graduate six seniors and Averett said that’s the toughest part of losing this game and the season coming to a close. And he felt the team exceeded many people’s expectations.

“Looking back, we had overall a pretty good year for us,” said Averett. “I think a lot of people didn’t have us winning 14 games. We accomplished a lot with this group of seniors but it’s never easy to say goodbye.”

With the loss Maple Mountain finished its season 14-10 while West (13-11) will advance to take on No. 2 seed and defending state champion Olympus. That game will be Friday at 7 pm and Olympus will host.