The Red Bay Tigers’ season came to an end in a heartbreaking loss to the Sheffield Bulldogs 43-40 in overtime at the Northwest Regionals.

“The game didn’t turn out the way we would have liked. We didn’t play our best game, but we played well enough to win,” said Red Bay Coach John Torisky. “I thought we caught a few bad breaks and missed a few shots we would normally make.”

Red Bay’s season ends with a 20-10 record. The Tigers improved as the year progressed and were playing their best basketball at the end of the season. Torisky said chemistry played a big role in his team’s success.

“The strength of this team was their competitiveness and how much they cared about each other. I don’t know if I have coached a team that was as close as this team,” said Torisky. “We were able to overcome many obstacles and achieve far more than anyone expected after losing five starters from last year’s team.

“It’s a testament to the seniors on this team, who showed great leadership and character.”

Red Bay and Sheffield stayed in a tight game from start to finish. Red Bay was on the positive end of the score for three minutes of the game and never trailed by more than four points.

The game was tied for 14 minutes.

The Tigers faced their biggest deficit of four points with four minutes left in regulation. Lawson Glover hit a layup with 3:18 to go in the game to cut Sheffield’s lead to 34-33. Glover also made two free throws with 1:54 remaining in regulation to tie the game 35-35.

The score remained tied for the rest of regulation, sending the game into overtime.

The Tigers lost Glover and starter Andrew Ray in the latter part of the fourth quarter.

Sheffield took a quick three–point lead in overtime, but Cody Carnes hit a three-pointer to tie the game at the 2:13 mark.

Sheffield reclaimed the lead again with 1:11 to go in overtime. Again, Red Bay tied the game 40-40 on two free throws by B.P. Blair.

Sheffield took the lead on a free throw with 36 seconds to go in the game and held on for the win.

Landon Glover led Red Bay with a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

Carson Corum and Blair scored seven points each. Lawson Glover added six points, Carnes three points, Ray two points and Holden Inmon two points.