A magical basketball season came to an end for the Hills-Beaver Creek boys Saturday in Marshall.

H-BC, a team that was closing in on its first South Section 3A Tournament title in five years, fell one win short of reaching that goal.

The Patriots played well enough to sport leads in both halves of the championship game against four-time defending tournament champion Ellsworth.

Ellsworth, however, rallied late in the game to post a 69-54 victory over H-BC.

The loss snapped what was a 16-game winning streak for the Patriots and ends H-BC’s 25-4 campaign.

Ellsworth (24-5) advances to tonight’s Section 3A title game against MACCRAY (28-0) in Marshall.

H-BC, which had not lost a game since Jan. 16 (including a Feb. 26 home win over EHS), played like a champion during the early stages of Saturday’s game at Southwest Minnesota State University.

The Patriots blanked EHS through the game’s first 6:02, when they were able to open a 7-0 cushion after Andrew Scholten converted a field goal at the 12:43 mark of the opening half.

H-BC remained in front until Ellsworth tied the score at 13 before Panther post Trevor Gruis converted a field goal with 6:20 remaining in the opening half to give Ellsworth a 15-13 edge.

Patriot senior Colton Bass knotted the score at 15 with a field goal 15 seconds later, but EHS countered with an 8-0 run that left the Panthers sporting a 23-15 lead with 4:11 remaining in the half.

H-BC managed to trim Ellsworth’s lead to three points (27-24) when Travis Helgeson turned an offensive rebound into a basket with 50 seconds left.

Ellsworth hit a three-point shot with 25 seconds remaining, but Karic Wiertzema countered with a three for H-BC at the five-second mark to make it a 30-27 difference at the intermission.

Wiertzema, who led the Patriots with 18 points, converted a layup 1:17 into the second half to put H-BC in front 31-30.

The teams proceeded to exchange one-point leads until H-BC senior Caleb Ellingson drained a three-point shot at 14:34 to give the Patriots a 38-34 lead.

Ellsworth used an 8-1 run to move in front 42-39, but Wiertzema tied the game at 42 for H-BC with a three-point play with 11:03 remaining.

The Patriots never did regain the lead.

Ellsworth scored the next five points to open a 47-42 cushion with 10:04 left to play.

The Panthers proceeded to outscore H-BC 22-12 the rest of the night to prevail by 15 points at game’s end.

Along with leading the team in scoring, Wiertzema paced the Patriots with five assists and two steals.

Scholten, a senior, ended his career with a 16-point performance.

Helgeson scored 14 points and collected eight rebounds for H-BC.

Box score

Ellingson 0 1 0-0 3, Tilstra 0 0 1-2 1, Bass 1 0 0-0 2, Luze 0 0 0-0 0,Wiertzema 3 3 3-3 18, Reese 0 0 0-0 0, Larson 0 0 0-0 0, Scholten 8 0 0-1 16, Helgeson 5 0 4-6 14, Nuffer 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics

H-BC: 21 of 44 field goals 48 percent), eight of 12 free throws (67 percent), 17 rebounds, 10 turnovers.

Ellsworth: 26 of 59 field goals (44 percent), 14 of 16 free throws (88 percent), 27 rebounds, four turnovers.