ROCHESTER – The No. 11 Lyle-Pacelli boys basketball team was in position to pull off a major upset, when it simply went cold.

The Athletics suffered a shooting slump at the worst time and ended up having their season come to an end in a 68-60 loss to No. 2 Spring Grove in the Section 1A semifinals in Mayo Civic Center Saturday.

LP (16-11 overall) took a 45-38 lead when Trinity Anderson hit a three-pointer with 14:18 left in the game, but the Lions (23-5 overall) responded with a 20-5 run that saw them go up 58-50 with 7:03 left in the game. LP didn’t score for the final five minutes of that spurt.

“We had that streak where we just went cold,” LP head coach Scott Koenigs said. “We had good looks and took good shots, but we just didn’t hit and that was the difference in the game. If we keep shooting the way we were, we would’ve won that game.”

LP senior Frederico Pulagrin, who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists, went down with an injury in the last stretch of that Lion rally and did not return to the game. Still, the Athletics closed to within 63-60 with 2:54 left in the game after Zach Bollingebrg hit back-to-back threes. LP was shut out for the last three minutes and the Lions put the game away at the free throw line.

“For Freddy to go down hurt us a lot and it deflated us a little. He’s capable of scoring a lot of points in a little time,” Koenigs said. “But we responded and the kids hit some shots.”

The first half saw both teams hold the lead at times and LP picked up some momentum going into the break when Anderson beat the halftime buzzer with a bank-shot three-pointer from the wing to tie things up at 34.

LP will graduate three key seniors in Pulgarin, Anderson, who had 12 points, and Joseph Maas, who had 10 points, but it brings back a strong group of freshmen in Cole Walter, who had five assists, Bollinberg, who had 11 points, and Jed Nelson, who had 11 points.

Walter has embraced the point guard role for LP.

“It’s all about my teammates, I’m just trying to find open guys and get the hot shooters the ball. Coaches told us to stay confident and we’ve been confident,” Walter said. “We’ll miss the seniors a lot. Especially Trinity’s shooting, Freddy’s athleticism, and Joseph is one of my best friends and he’s a great player. I love all of them. We really want to come back here and this is our goal every single year.”

Koenigs is excited about the future of the program for LP, which made big strides this season.

“They’re gamers. We’ll be adding some help too,” Koenigs said. “Next year we’ll be able to move Jed to the perimeter a little more. Nobody knows how well he shoots yet, but he shoots extremely well. Zach and Cole both played extremely well in the tournament.”

LP 34 26 – 60
SG 34 34 – 68

LP scoring: Frederico Pulgarin, 12; Trinity Anderson, 12; Jed Nelson, 11; Zach Bollinberg, 11; Joseph Maas, 10; Cole Walter, 5; rebounds: 19 (Pulgarin, 8); free throws: 66 percent (4-for-6); turnovers: 14