It was a valiant and gallant effort, but the Hopkins varsity basketball team lost 66-59 Thursday night to No. 1-ranked Benton Harbor in the Division 2 regional tournament finals.
The loss dropped the Cinderella Vikings to a final overall season record of 11-8, while the Tigers will enter the quarterfinals with a 17-2 mark.
Benton Harbor spent almost the entire fourth quarter draining free throw shots to stay ahead of Hopkins and the desperate but generally accurate three-point shooting of senior point guard Colin Weber and Trevor Smith. Weber during the game notched his 1,000th career point.
The Tigers got out to a 14-11 lead in the first period and were able to stay ahead the rest of the way.
The loss also ended a post-season four-game winning streak for the Vikings.
Nice work Vikings! Congratulations on a great post season run. We are all very proud of you.