Lancaster Mennonite's second-half rally was furious, impressive, productive. ...

And not quite good enough. The Blazers' season ended with a 68-64 loss to Devon Prep Saturday in a PIAA Class AA first-round game at Hersheypark Arena.

Mennonite bows out at 19-8, and with more than a little pride.

"I don't know how many people thought we'd be here, playing in a state playoff game," coach Geoff Groff said. "I'd say this group overachieved in the eyes of a lot of people."

Pride wasn't exactly the emotion in Groff's voice as he unloaded on his club at halftime, after a first half in which they went about seven minutes without a point and trailed, at one point, 25-8.

"The last time we had a long layoff [between the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District Three playoffs] it didn't bother us at all," Groff said. "This time, it took us awhile to find our legs."

Devon Prep (20-6) is built around Jeff Hughes, a smallish (maybe 5-foot-11) but dynamic drive-and-dish point guard getting Division III college looks.

Hughes scored 23. He had nine assists. He also had 10 turnovers, most of them in the second half, when desperation drove a Mennonite effort that sent the game to the wire.

The Blazers pulled within 43-39 on a Josh Lapp 3-pointer midway through the third, but that cued a 7-0 flurry by Devon Prep, mostly by Hughes, that made it 50-39.

And so it went. There were times when Devon Prep looked too quick for Mennonite, and times when Mennonite looked too quick for Devon Prep.

Lapp took it from Hughes and drove for a layup at the third-quarter buzzer. Prep coach Bill Frio, disgusted, started the final stanza with four bench-warmers on the floor.

That only lasted a minute. The rally lasted almost to the end.

Lapp fleeced Hughes again to make it 54-48. Devon answered with a three-point play by Duncan Becker, a 6-4 junior whose efficiency, and defense on Mennonite post player Phil Yoder (eight points), were huge.

As the game screamed into the final two minutes, Mennonite pulled within seven on two free throws by Dean Royal, then got a scrambling turnover that led to a Zach Zook three. 61-57, with 1:52 left.

The difference from that point on was Hughes had the ball all the time, and didn't miss a free throw, seven-for-seven for the game, six of them in the last two minutes.

Still, the Blazers got it to 65-61 on a Yoder hoop with 18 ticks remaining, and to 66-64 on a Royal three with about 0:04 on the clock.

They couldn't get a foul, on Becker, until just one tick remained. He made both.

In addition to Hughes' 23, Devon Prep got 18 from Matt Purcell, a 6-4 inside guy, and 15 from Becker, who missed just one shot from the field.

Mennonite got 17 from Royal. Non-starter Corey Leonard added 14, and Lapp 10.

The Tide has had an interesting season. They own a win over Philadelphia Public League powerhouse Ben Franklin, and were District One's top AA seed for the second straight year.

But there are only four AA teams in District One. For the second straight year, one of them chose not to enter the tournament rather than face a team it had lost to by 40 in the regular season.

"We went 18 days without a game, and it showed for a while," Frio said.

They lost the district final — in a flurry of missed layups, according to Frio — to rival St. Pius X.

Pretty good team, but one the Blazers could have beaten by starting a little earlier, and running their stuff with a little more patient precision.

They do put up a fight, though.

"One of the things we always talk about, and I consider it a life value, is learning how to compete," Groff said. "These kids do that, and that's how they got here."