The magical Nocona Indians’ season came to an end on Tuesday against Tolar in the regional quarterfinals.
The Rattlers won 53-36 against the Indians to put an end to Nocona’s pursuit of a regional tournament appearance.
Nocona came in hoping a lot of things would go right so it could continue to make school history, with the last team to even win a playoff game back in 2017 making it to the regional tournament for the first time in decades.
This year’s team was already the first district title winner since 1988 and with the success of the girl’s team, it was the first time both teams won the district title since the 1950s.
The Indians came in with some close and toughly played wins against Stamford (57-48) and Poolville (46-41) in the playoffs so far, while also riding an 11 game winning streak dating back to the beginning of district play.
Tolar was tough though, finishing second in a district that is ruled by top ranked Lipan and finishing the regular season 26-7.
The first half was a defensive slug fest. The Rattlers led 8-2 after the first quarter, but Nocona bounced back to cut the lead to 14-11 at halftime, with the game still anyone’s ready to control.
It was not the first low scoring game for an Indians team that runs on how well its aggressive man-to-man press defense does.
Unfortunately, when one team started to make shots, it was Tolar. The Rattlers scored 19 points in the third quarter and extended the lead to 33-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
Down by 10 points, Nocona had to start to gamble on defense to try and force steals, but unfortunately Tolar countered with smart passes which enabled the lead to continue to grow.
The Indians could not keep up with the high scoring pace in the second half as the Rattlers ran away with the win 53-36.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.