WAUKEE — In a year of ‘almost’ for the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team, Friday night’s game against No. 2 Waukee was a fitting final act.

The Bobcats nearly stunned the Warriors on their own court, taking the game to the very end and only just falling short in the final three minutes of action. The 54-48 loss ends the Bobcats’ season with a record of 7-13.

But the final score was much closer than it was expected to be prior to tip-off, with the Warriors (12-2) boasting three Division I recruits — Tucker DeVries (Drake), Payton Sandfort (Iowa) and Omaha Biliew (undecided) — and with all five starters standing over 6-foot-5. Marshalltown’s tallest player was Isaiah Borgos standing at 6-foot-2.

The Warriors got out to a 9-4 lead early in the first quarter, but two Marshalltown 3-pointers pulled the Bobcats into a 10-9 lead. It was the start of a theme that re-occurred throughout the contest — Waukee would get on a run, but 3-pointers kept the Bobcats involved. Marshalltown went 9-for-16 from behind the arc.

Marshalltown trailed 14-12 after one quarter, but took the lead early in the second with baskets from Armonniey Thomas and Isaiah Borgos. Thomas and Borgos were the lifeblood of the Bobcats’ offense Friday night, as Thomas scored a game-high 24 points and Borgos contributed 14 in his final game with MHS.

Waukee’s zone defense provided ample opportunities for the Bobcats to shoot gaps and find open shooters, Appel said.

“That was fine by us,” Appel said. “Once we understood we could attack those gaps a little bit, guys were standing wide open for shots. Give our guys credit, they were knocking them down. From what I saw, they were kinda hoping we’d miss those shots and we didn’t so they had to get out of that.”

A Prince Jallah layup with three minutes left in the half gave Marshalltown its biggest lead of the night at 24-19. The upset was in the air, and Waukee seemed to understand it was going to have to change things up in order to shake off the Bobcats. A five-point burst at the end of the half tied the game up.

The Bobcats held Waukee to 35 percent shooting from the floor. Appel said the gameplan was to pressure DeVries and Sandfort on the ball and take some risks in leaving other players open from distance in order to crash the lane when the Warriors were trying to get inside.

In the second half, Waukee switched up to a tight man defense — taking advantage of its length and frustrating Marshalltown’s dribble-drive attack. The Bobcats scored just three points in the third quarter, falling behind by nine as DeVries took control of the contest. DeVries would lead the Warriors with 22 points.

Marshalltown was on the ropes, in need of a quick change in momentum early in the fourth quarter to keep their chances intact.

Buckets from Thomas, Jallah and Borgos trimmed the gap to 39-37 with just over five minutes to play. After DeVries muscled home a bucket inside, Borgos buried a long three from the top of the key to trim the gap to one point. He let out a loud scream running back down the court, and Waukee called a timeout with the Bobcats hot on the trail.

Then, Jallah stole the ball and had a layup opportunity to give the Bobcats the lead. He was pressured and the layup rolled out. Seconds later on the other end of the court, DeVries hit a three from NBA range to put the Warriors up four.

The Bobcats would not get within four the rest of the game. It was another chance gone begging in a year of close losses to good CIML opponents.

But it didn’t dampen the pride Appel had for his team after the game.

“I’m extremely proud of our effort,” Appel said. “We played extremely hard tonight, we were the harder-playing team. We showed heart with our determination and will and not shying away from the moment, not being timid against a very good team. We were toe-to-toe with them the entire game.”

The Bobcats return four starters from this year’s team for 2021-22, with Borgos being the only senior. Justin Melde graduates as well.

Waukee 54, Marshalltown 48

MARSHALLTOWN (7-13) — Armonniey Thomas 10 1-3 24, Grant Greazel 0 0-0 0, Drake Kapayou 2 0-0 6, Prince Jallah 2 0-0 4, Isaiah Borgos 5 0-0 14, Justin Melde 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 1-3 48.

WAUKEE (12-2) — Tucker DeVries 7 5-5 22, Payton Sandfort 2 4-4 8, Pryce Sandfort 1 4-4- 7, Omaha Biliew 2 0-0 4, Wyatt Heston 1 0-0 3, Malik Allen 2 0-0 4, Justin Johnson 0 0-0 0, Cade Kelderman 0 1-2 1, Ryan Cose 0 2-2 2, Blake Papenberg 1 0-1 3, Connor Soethout 0 0-0 0, Braden Menz 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 16-18 54.

MHS 12 12 3 21 — 48

WAUKEE 14 10 12 18 — 54

3-Point Goals–MHS 9 (Borgos 4, Thomas 3, Kapayou 2), Waukee 6 (DeVries 3, Papenberg, Pr.Sandfort, Heston). Team Fouls–MHS 18, Waukee 10. Fouled out–none.