Photo by Kim North Bridgeport’s Evan Clark (4) goes for a rebound as Buckeye Trail’s 6-10 Elian Arick (23) pulls down one of his 14 boards Tuesday night during their Ohio Division VI Eastern District semifinal inside ‘The Hangar’ at Union Local High School. The Warriors held off the Bulldogs, 56-51.

MORRISTOWN — After staging a stunning rally to upset defending Ohio Division VI state champion Monroe Central last Friday, Bridgeport ran out of miracles Tuesday night.

The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (17-7) trailed No. 5 Buckeye Trail (20-3) by 17 points (39-22) midway through the third quarter of their Division VI Eastern District semifinal. Displaying that never-say-die attitude, they cut the margin to three, 54-51, with 70 seconds left to play when senior Jaki Threet buried a trey from the top of the key.

However, that would be as close as the Belmont County squad would get as the Warriors held on for a 56-51 victory before a jam-packed crowd inside ‘The Hangar’ on the Union Local Schools campus.

“I just told the kids that I thought our season really changed two weeks ago when we had a comeback win at Frontier and we asked them to do everything we asked of them, and they did that,” veteran Bridgeport head coach Donnie Cash said. “We told them we had to play a full 32 minutes. We needed to get a few turnovers and a couple of (defensive) stops, and we did.

“The kids did everything that we asked them to do tonight,” Cash said. “I’m proud of their effort.”

Deadlocked at 5 in the first quarter, Buckeye Trail netted seven of the final nine points to take a 12-7 lead after eight minutes. The Warriors built the lead to 30-18 at the half on the strength of their outside shooting as they connected on 6-of-14 trifectas and tickled the twine on 12 of 25 first-half shots.

On the other end of the court, Bridgeport couldn’t buy a shot and seemed intimidated in the lane by 6-10 Elian Arick who blocked five shots and altered many others. The Bulldogs finished the game 17-of-57 from the floor, including 10-for-30 from behind the arc.

“Their zone was pretty active and they are athletic,” Cash said of the Warriors. “Then you add the 6-10 kid as a rim-protector, it’s kind of hard to get to the basket. They forced us to take some bad shots.”

Bridgeport trailed 43-27 with two minutes left in the third quarter. It outscored Buckeye Trail 5-2 down the stretch for a 45-32 deficit heading into the final panel.

Led by senior Jameil McKennen, who netted 11 of his game-high 16 points in the final quarter. He buried a trio of treys.

“We knew their game plan was to take away Jaleel like every other team does, so we needed someone else to step up and Jameil did that,” Cash praised. “He hit some big shots to bring us back into it. I can’t be happier for the kid. He was a positive for us this year.”

Bridgeport’s pressure defense forced Buckeye Trail into 14 second-half turnovers — seven in each quarter — but couldn’t get the ball to fall when it needed it to.

“I thought we got into a little rhythm offensively in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough,” Cash said.

Threet supported McKennen with a dozen markers as the two seniors played their final game in the Black-and-Blue.

“Jaki and I go back a long way,” Cash said. “He’s a really good athlete.”

The long-time Bridgeport head coach also wanted to thank the community for its support.

“In my 20 years here, I’ve never seen a crowd like that at a Bridgeport boys basketball game,” he said, holding back his emotions. “That was great to see. We just told the kids that we want to be in this position every year.”

With a good nucleus coming back, Cash was upbeat about next season.

“We’ve got a lot back (next year), but the kids have to understand what it takes to get to that next level,” he added. “They’ve got to put in the time. I know they play other sports, but they’ve also have to focus some on basketball.”

Chris Loudin led a balanced Warriors scoring attack with 12 points, one more than Sammy Brown. However, the other four players who scored all had at least eight, with Easton Rominger leading the way with nine.

Despite a decided height disadvantage, Bridgeport trailed 24-23 on the glass as Jaleel Vincent grabbed six caroms. He finished with nine points. Threet and Evan Clark each had five boards.

Buckeye Trail advances to meet No. 1 Hiland on Friday at Dover High School. A berth in the regional tournament is on the line.