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By Anthony Richards | anthony.richards@northchiltonadvertiser.com

Thorsby’s boys basketball season came to an end, as the Rebels lost 63-49 on the road against Cleveland in the Class 2A Northeast Sub-regional on Tuesday.

According to Thorsby head coach Tim Fortner, things were looking good with a five-point Thorsby lead heading into halftime.

However, the game took a major turn in the third quarter, as the fouls began to pile up for the Rebels.

“They were the pressing team, while we were sitting back,” Fortner said. “I try not to complain about the officiating, but they took us completely out of the game.”

In the third quarter, Thorsby was called for 11 team fouls while Cleveland was called for a pair of fouls.

As a result, Cleveland capitalized and grabbed the momentum and the lead at the free throw line.

“They were shooting two free throws on every foul with three to four minutes left in the [third] quarter,” Fortner said. “We kept playing, but that quarter did us in.”

Scoring runs for Thorsby cut the deficit to single digits in the final quarter, but the Rebels could never maintain it long enough to threaten the lead that Cleveland had established.

“We had some growing pains playing younger kids a lot last year,” Fortner said. “This year the seniors really stepped up whether they were starters or coming off the bench.”

According to Fortner, the team enjoyed the success even more having experienced the tough loses from the previous season.

Thorsby nearly doubled its win total from a season ago with 14 victories this season.

“We were able to be competitive in games that we were blown out in a year ago, and even won some games that people didn’t think we could win,” Fortner said.

Elsewhere on Tuesday night, Maplesville suffered a 73-48 defeat on the road against Keith in a Class 1A Central Sub-regional contest. Keith won over 20 games on the season and proved to be just too much for the Red Devils.