CEDAR FALLS — The dejection on Armonniey Thomas’s face as the senior walked off the court for the final time in Bobcat colors said it all.

A 22-point showing from Marshalltown’s all-time leading scorer (who ended his career with a staggering 1,465 points over a four-year career) was not enough for the Bobcats to pull a playoff shocker over No. 4 Cedar Falls, instead falling 56-42 Friday night and ending the season at 11-12.

Thomas — one of three seniors alongside Grant Greazel and Drake Polley — said the Bobcats did well to come back, but couldn’t find a way to the front.

“It was a pretty tough first half for us,” Thomas said. “We couldn’t find our rhythm and just let the game get away from us in the first half.

“We got it back within five but couldn’t get a stop on the defensive end.”

The Tigers jumped out to a 24-2 lead over the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter, smothering the Bobcats (who were missing Drake Kapayou) on defense using their length to impact shots and then finding pockets of space on offense to get shots up. Marshalltown recovered to trail 34-14 at the end of the first half, but found itself facing a mountain to climb.

Head coach Michael Appel said the Bobcats had to take chances with their coverages defensively. The main decision was to drop Prince Jallah off of his coverage assignment, Cedar Falls’ Derek Woods, because of the lack of a shooting threat. Jallah laid off into the paint and allowed Marshalltown to be more aggressive on the ball while sending occasional traps and double-teams at Trey Campbell (19 points) and Aaron Brost.

“We had to take our chances somewhere, their dribble penetration was hurting us a little bit,” Appel said. “It worked there really well.

Kind of had them flustered there a little bit, and we were able to get a lot of stops there when we needed to and got back in the game.”

The result was a total of three points for the Tigers in the third quarter, with space constricted and the Bobcats controlling the defensive glass through Jaxson Eisenbarth, Dalen Huston and Jallah. With more possessions and better spacing on offense, the Bobcats began to cut into the gap. Jallah (10 points) and Thomas found lanes to drive and get to the basket and the deficit went from 20, to 13 and then finally down to seven by the end of the third quarter.

Multiple times in the fourth quarter the score got as tight as six points, and one time the Bobcats got within five. But Cedar Falls cracked the Bobcats’ defensive code in the fourth quarter and started to find space it couldn’t reach in the third period. Campbell and Dallas Bear (13 points) got into the lane and created shots for themselves and others. As Marshalltown’s offense began to sputter and the Tigers turned the screw, the lead increased again and locked their spot in the next round.

A season in which the Bobcats were often close with some of the best teams in the state but couldn’t get over the hump, Appel said consistency is what the Bobcats will need to make strides in the future.

“We were really competitive and I feel like we could hang with just about any team in the state,” Appel said. “At the same time we were a little inconsistent with how we approached things day-to-day depending on who we had playing and who we didn’t and it made it hard to get in a groove and stay consistent.

That’s where we have to get better.”

Cedar Falls 56, Marshalltown 42

MARSHALLTOWN (11-12) — Armonniey Thomas 8 3-4 22, Grant Greazel 0 0-0 0, Prince Jallah 5 0-0 10, Dalen Huston 2 0-0 4, Jaxson Eisenbarth 1 0-0 3, Drake Polley 0 0-0 0, Treshaun Brooks 1 1-1 3, Brayden Weatherly 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 4-5 42.

CEDAR FALLS (19-2) — Aaron Brost 3 0-0 8, Trey Campbell 8 2-3 19, Dallas Bear 6 0-0 13, Cade Courbat 6 1-2 13, Carter Juhl 0 0-0 0, Anthony Galvin 1 0-0 3, Owen Denholm 0 0-0 0, Jake Peters 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 24 3-5 56.

MHS 2 12 16 12 — 42

CEDAR FALLS 19 15 3 19 — 56

3-Point Goals–MHS 4 (Thomas 3, Eisenbarth), Cedar Falls 5 (Brost 2, Campbell, Galvin, Bear). Team Fouls–MHS 12, Cedar Falls 13. Fouled Out–none.