The Manhattan High boys basketball team’s season was ended Wednesday night.

The Indians dropped a 59-58 decision to Washburn Rural in the first game of the Kansas 6A sub-state bracket, Manhattan’s first loss since Jan. 24 to McPherson. Head coach Benji George explained that his team was emotional after the loss.

“I wish that we could have helped get those three [seniors] farther because they deserve it,” George said. “There’s definitely some hurt kids in the locker room.”

MHS finishes the season at 18-3 overall with an outright Centennial League title and wins over every team in the league. This year’s team is only the fourth in school history to win 18 games in a regular season, and George said that he was pleased with the run his team made.

“We tried to talk about the fact that that the three seniors have laid a foundation and have started something special,” George said. “I really wish that I could have helped get them further because they deserve it, and I couldn’t have been any more proud of our three seniors and really the entire program with all 33 guys, the way they represent the community of Manhattan and represent the school.”

Manhattan took a 12-7 advantage into the second frame, but the second period would prove to change the game. Washburn Rural hit six threes in the quarter alone and outscored the Indians 20-13, an ability of the Junior Blues that George said worried him.

“It’s really the only thing that worried me with this matchup, it’s the one thing that worried me was if [Washburn Rural] had a night that they were hot and we had a night that we weren’t,” George said. “We’ve shot the ball pretty well here and we’ve shot the ball pretty well lately, but offense is a fleeting thing. It comes and it goes.”

Washburn Rural took a 27-25 advantage into halftime, but George explained that the deficit didn’t bother him.

“[I told the players] that we weren’t that down at halftime just because we’ve been in those games all year, [like] the Junction [City] game and the game at their place,” George said. “They knew that they had been in that spot before. So, really, at halftime I thought our mentality was just fine.”

The third frame saw a swing of momentum in Manhattan’s favor. The Indians outscored Washburn Rural 15-8 in the third and went on a 9-6 run to take a 35-31 lead behind two dunks from senior Pierson McAtee, who explained that his team’s defense was to thank.

“We got it going defensively,” McAtee said. “That’s how we’ve kind of been all year. We get down and we get our defense back into our offense.”

Sophomore Trevor Hudgins converted on an and-one opportunity to close the third quarter, and Manhattan led 40-35 heading into the final frame.

The teams traded baskets to begin the fourth quarter, as Hudgins tallied a quick five points to give MHS a 47-46 lead at the 3:45 mark. From there, Washburn Rural rattled off eight unanswered points and took a 54-47 lead with 1:33 left. Junior Gabe Awbrey added two points later to trim the deficit to 57-55 with 4.7 seconds left, but Rural made 16-of-24 free throws in the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach with two free throws after Awbrey’s basket.

Awbrey explained that the team will use the loss as motivation for next year.

“[We’ll] use it as fuel for next year,” Awbrey said. “[We’ll] get back at it; a lot of us will be playing this summer, and get ready for next year. We think we can do special things next year.”

“It’s a special group; I’ll never forget it,” McAtee said. “You have to live with regret sometimes. Sometimes the hard way.”