Bonner Springs ? Eudora High boys basketball coach Kyle Deterding’s only regret from a 49-40 sub-state title game loss to Bishop Miege on Saturday was he wished it happened next week in the state tournament.

In a rematch of last year’s Class 4A-I state quarterfinal, the Cardinals were within three points at the start of the fourth quarter and only down by four with a minute left.

But a couple of 3-pointers from seniors Mitchell Ballock and Ryan Verbanic bounced off of the rim in every direction except through the net, and Miege made seven straight free throws in the final 40 seconds.

It was the third straight year Miege eliminated Eudora from the postseason.

“We said, ‘Hey, if we’re going to win state, we have to beat them sometime, so we might as well beat them today,'” Deterding said. “And by golly, we gave it a shot. We were right there.”

At a significant size disadvantage — Miege had four players standing at least 6-foot-5 — the Cardinals deliberately slowed the pace and limited possessions.

Ballock, signed to play at Creighton, did his best to fight through defensive schemes where he was constantly shadowed by Miege’s 6-8 sophomore Jeremiah Robinson and another pair of defenders ready to rush over when he dribbled.

The 6-5 Ballock scored 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting, adding eight rebounds, five assists and two steals while mostly guarding Robinson (10 points, nine rebounds), son of former Kansas basketball player Lester Earl.

“There’s nobody in Kansas or the United States that works harder than him,” Deterding said of Ballock. “It rubs off on people. The underclassmen got to see. He’s not just God-given talent. He has that, but holy cow, he works at it.”

With a lot of defensive attention on Ballock, Verbanic made a trio of 3-pointers, senior Hayden Brown scored eight points, senior David Hornberger had five points and sophomore Rock Jerome added four.

But the Cardinals (19-3) couldn’t match possessions with the Stags, who shot 56 percent from the floor, including 5-of-9 from behind the 3-point line.

“I would’ve lost my house if you would’ve told me before the year that we would win the (Frontier) League and our record would be 19-3,” Deterding said.

“Those four seniors who started, gosh, what a way to go out. Those guys, three of them I don’t even know if they came out of the game. They were dog tired, but they left every single thing they had on the court.”

BISHOP MIEGE (49)

Semaj Ray 3-6 1-2 9, Ezekiel Lopes 2-4 4-4 10, Jeremiah Robinson 1-3 8-8 10, Landry Weber 3-4 0-1 7, Francesco Badocchi 5-8 3-6 13, Joseph Gleason 0-0 0-0 0, Joshua Early 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-25 16-21 49.

EUDORA (40)

David Hornberger 2-3 1-2 5, Rock Jerome 2-4 0-2 4, Mitchell Ballock 4-16 5-6 14, Ryan Verbanic 3-5 0-0 9, Hayden Brown 3-6 0-0 8, Jayden Pierce 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 6-10 40.

Miege 19 9 9 12 — 49

Eudora 14 9 8 9 — 40

Three-point goals: Miege 5-9 (Ray 2, Lopes 2, Weber); Eudora 6-19 (Verbanic 3, Brown 2, Ballock). Fouled out: None. Turnovers: Miege 4, Eudora 4.