By LAMAR GAFFORD

LAKE CHARLES — It might have ended with a loss, but it is still a season to remember.

In its first time making it to the state tournament since 1990, Pineville lost in the Division I semifinals to St. Thomas More, 58-38, Wednesday at Burton Coliseum in the LHSAA’s Marsh Madness boys basketball tournament.

The Rebels shot just 27.1 percent from the field as nothing seemed to work inside the paint on both ends of the floor.

“We knew coming into it, they were going to be a tough out,” Pineville coach Chad Sears said. “We were preaching second chance points and points in the paint. We knew that’s how they lived. They can shoot the ball, but throughout the season, they got 65 percent of their points in the paint.”

Leading scorers and seniors Evyn Goree and JaVonte Thomas combined to shoot 3-for-21 and were held to seven points. Junior Kaden Clark scored 11 points and made three 3-pointers to lead Pineville.

A bright spot for Pineville (24-5) was it blocking 10 Cougar shots, including four by Thomas and Marzell. However, the Cougars countered with 17 offensive rebounds to hold a 44-26 rebounding advantage.

“Looking at the stats, they held us 10 under the amount of rebounds we normally get,” Sears said. “They got about 10-12 more than they normally get, 17 of them were on the offensive glass. That was the story of the game.”

St. Thomas More (29-1) was paced by seniors Chad Jones and Michael Mouton, who each had a double-double. Jones scored a game-high 20 points with 13 rebounds and four blocks, while Mouton added 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Just three seasons ago, Pineville was coming off the second of back-to-back 20-loss seasons – a two-year stretch where it went 8-46. However, these past two seasons were the first time it made it at least the quarterfinals since 2011 and the first time it made in back-to-back years in Class 5A.