Richmond Hill High School’s Cinderella postseason came to an end Saturday night on the other side of the state.

But as they have for much of the season, the Wildcats made it interesting before falling 61-56 to No. 3-ranked Northside in Columbus in the second round of the boys’ state Class AAAAA basketball tournament.

"I can’t say enough about the effort of our guys (Saturday night)," coach Bill Henderson said. "They played hard the entire game and unfortunately came up just short in the end."

The Wildcats, who surprised Jones County 63-61 on Wednesday, went into the Sweet 16 matchup with a 12-16 record and promptly took a 14-12 first period lead.

Yet Northside rallied, first to take a 28-26 halftime lead, then to pull back ahead in the end after the Wildcats managed to lead 38-37 heading into the final period.

"Northside is a really good team with a lot of talented players," Henderson said. "We knew we were going to have to have oru best effort. Our guys gave us that effort, but in the end Northside made some big plays and hit some big free throws to tip the game in their favor."

Read full story in Feb. 27 issue of Bryan County News.