EASTMONT - The Warden Cougars suffered a heartbreaking 60-58 loss to Oroville in the final round of the consolation bracket at the North Central Washington 2B District Tournament Friday.

The game wasn't decided until the last 20 seconds when the Hornets hit a 3-point shot to take the lead. Warden had a chance to pull out the win, but Ty Jesse's shot at the buzzer rimmed out and the Cougars were sent home one game shy of making the regional tournament.

"What a game," coach Wes Richins said. "It wasn't the prettiest game and obviously didn't produce the results we were hoping for, but none the less we played through the pressure and left everything out on the court."

The game was close throughout as Oroville lead 11-9 at the end of the first quarter and was up 29-28 at the half.

The Hornets opened up an eight point lead to start the third quarter, but Warden closed the gap to 45-41 heading into the final eight minutes of the contest.

The teams traded buckets for most of the fourth quarter, but the Cougars managed to take a slight edge with less than a minute to play

"The game was going to come down to the last possession I knew it," Richins said. "I had joked before the game with Oroville's coach that we might go to OT and it almost happened."

Warden's Garritt Marks was fouled on a made shot with 45 seconds left to play, but missed the free throw to put the Cougars up by one.

"We held Oroville without a shot for the next 25 second until the Hughes kid hit a huge three to them up by two points with 20 seconds left," Richins said.  "We called a time out and called set play to get Ty Jesse open to win the game in the corner or hit Garritt Marks down low to tie it. They ran it perfectly, but the shot just rimmed out."

Richin said he was surprised Jesse got the shot off.

'There was a lot of contact on the shot and Ty ended up on the floor," he said. "I think everyone in the gym was watching the shot, including the officials. But hey, that's they way it goes sometimes. We played hard, we never gave up, and we walked out of there with our heads held high. I was really proud of our boys."

Despite being bounced out of the post-season, the team had one of the most successful season's in the history of the boys basketball program.

"Warden has never been to the state tournament," Richins said. "But we've been to the play-in game three or four times the past 50 years. The last time was in 1988."

Victor Flores led the charge for the Cougars with 23 points, five steals and four assists. Garritt Marks added 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, and Trent Bates finished with 11 points.

Warden made it to the loser out game after a first round 53-27 loss to Brewster Feb. 13 sent the team into the consolation bracket.

The Cougars bounced back with a 52-38 win over Pateros to set up the showdown with Oroville.

"That was one of those grind out games," Richins said. "They had two stellar guards that their entire offense went through. We forced them to shoot a little deeper than they wanted to. We didn't come out very sharp, but hung around and hit some big shots in the third quarter none bigger than a three pointer at the buzzer by Trent Bates that put us up going into the fourth."

Warden scored the next 10 points to take control of the game.

The Cougar defense held the Billy Goats without a field goal in the fourth quarter.

Flores and Conrad, Ruge had 11 each to lead the offensive attack for Warden.

Marks added 10 points and eight boards. Bates chipped in 10 points and Jesse finished with five steals.