After finishing No. 1 in the Metro East region and No. 6 in the 3A conference, Gilbert Christian ran out of gas Saturday.

The Knights (17-2) coughed up a 28-15 halftime lead and were upset by Northwest Christian 61-52 in the first round of the state tournament.

“We outscored them by 10 in the second quarter,” said assistant athletic director Chris Gargan. “Then they outscored us in the third quarter. That’s when [Northwest Christian] started to believe they could win the game.”

Northwest Christian went on a 13-3 run to start the third quarter, then began knocking down shots to put the Knights away.  The Knights only scored eight points in the third quarter.

“We controlled the tempo, did everything we wanted to in the first half,” said coach Kurt Keener. “They just came out and took it to us, especially in the first five minutes.

“I don’t know if we got complacent with our lead. They are winners. Most of their kids played in the 3A football championship. We talked at halftime that they weren’t going to roll over and quit.”

Senior Nick Pappas didn’t feel there was any complacency, just shots going one way and not the other.

“We missed our shots, they were making theirs,” said Pappas. “We blew the lead, that’s really what it was. There’s not much we could’ve done to stop them hitting around 30% of their threes in the second half.”

The Knights got in foul trouble with star senior Gavin Lloyd fouling out.

“The game got really physical, a lot of contact on both ends,” said Keener. “There probably could’ve been a foul on every possession…Once they got that momentum, we were holding on trying to keep the lead. Obviously losing Gavin in the last few minutes didn’t help.”

Even though the Knights season ended abruptly, Lloyd is  happy he spent his senior season as a member of the team.

“I’m proud of this team, proud I came to this school for one year,” said Lloyd.