After his team fell to Bridgman, 53-46 in a Class C district final on Monday, Brandywine boys basketball coach Nathan Knapp was in the locker room with his team for several minutes.

It was the hardest postgame speech this season for Knapp because there were no more games to play.

“I told the kids not to reflect on (the game against Bridgman), reflect on your season and you’ll be happy with that,” said Knapp, whose eyes looked to have shed some tears while meeting with his players. “There are only four teams in the state of Michigan that walk out a winner.

“It hurts. The kids gave all they had. It was just one of those nights that we couldn’t get the ball to fall.”

Brandywine missed its final three shots in the game after pulling within 48-46 on a basket from Andrew Duckett with 1:43 remaining.

“The shots and our defense were fine,” Knapp said about his team play in the final minute. “We were just on the short end of the stick. Bridgman is a tough place to win at. We were in the game. We had a shot.”

For the third time this year, the Bobcats were in position to beat the Bees, but were unable to make the plays down the stretch. Brandywine was outscored 31-8 in the fourth quarter in a 64-58 loss to Bridgman and was outscored 10-2 in the final 2:25 in a 64-58 loss to the Bees.

“We need to find a way to close games out,” Knapp said.

But still it was a very successful season for Brandywine. The Bobcats finished 13-8 with three more wins than the previous two years combined.

“Everybody on this team gave it all they had on the court,” Knapp said. “That’s the mentality we had.”

Bridgman saw that mentality on Monday. The Bees led 36-28 with 5:15 left in the third quarter before Brandywine went on a 9-0 run to take a 37-36 lead with:39 left in the third.

The first half featured five ties and eight lead changes with Bridgman ending up with a slim 28-25 lead at the half.

“We’d go on a little bit of a run then we’d falter a little bit,” Knapp said.

In the end, Brandywine couldn’t overcome Bridgman’s eight 3-pointers and its own inconsistent offense.

“At the end of the day, I’m proud of these kids,” Knapp said. “They did a lot for us this year.

“Those seniors (Zachary Schmidt, Andrew Boocher, Andrew Duckett, Matt Vaughn, Drew Krueger, Timothy Batchelor) have done so much. They brought it everyday to practice. There are some huge shoes to fill. It’s going to be tough, but I think (the seniors) work ethic rubbed off on these younger kids. There was competition everyday at practice, which is what you want as a coach.”

Duckett scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds against Bridgman, while Boocher added eight points and three rebounds. Schmidt connected on a 3-pointer.
Knapp’s mood brightened when he talked about the future of the program and the return of talented players like Hunter Slaughter, Austin Knapp, Marquise Davis and Vinny Peel. Slaughter scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers, against Bridgman, Knapp totaled six points and eight rebounds, Davis started and had a steal and two blocked shots and Peel had six points and three rebounds.

“There’s a lot there,” Nathan Knapp said of his program’s future. “We’re just going to keep working hard.”