At halftime Thursday night, the St. Aloysius Flashes faced the unenviable task of pushing a boulder up a mountain.

Somehow, they did it — and then got squished when the boulder rolled back down on top of them.

St. Al overcame a 22-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, only to give up a couple of late runs to Durant and lose 82-72 in the first round of the boys Class 1A state tournament.

It’s the third straight season the Flashes have lost in their playoff opener. The three losses have been by a total of 18 points, and coach Delvin Thompson felt this one was much closer than the final score. Durant pulled away in the final minute by sinking a few free throws.

“I can’t be mad. I’m proud of the kids. But I wanted to get past that round,” Thompson said. “We’ve been to this round three years in a row and probably lost by a total of 10 points.”

The Flashes seemed on course for a much bigger loss than that on Thursday night. Durant (20-8) took advantage of 15 St. Al turnovers in the first half to take a 46-24 lead at halftime.

Thompson switched defenses to a 1-2-2 zone, and that turned the tables. Durant committed a number of turnovers in the third quarter, and St. Al outscored the Tigers 26-14 to get back in the game.

The Flashes kept chipping away in the fourth quarter and took a 66-65 lead on Connor Smith’s layup with just over two minutes to go.

“These kids play well with their backs against the wall. We’ve just had a couple of slow starts this season,” Thompson said. “I never questioned them fighting back. We had to make a halftime adjustment. They didn’t have but one or two ballhandlers, so we went to the 1-2-2 and clogged the middle up.”

Smith’s basket was the last time the Flashes saw the lead, however.

Durant hit two free throws on its next possession, then turned two St. Al turnovers into baskets to regain the lead, 71-66. Two more St. Al turnovers and some sharp free throw shooting in the final minute allowed the Tigers to put the game on ice with another 6-0 run.

Durant advanced to face West Lowndes in the second round of the state tournament on Saturday night.

Je’Varius Dixon led Durant with 23 points, and Ju’Waun Howard scored 16.

St. Al’s Luke Eckstein finished with a game-high 24 points, along with seven rebounds and four assists. Drake Dorbeck had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Smith had 11 points and four assists. Rett Verhine scored nine points and Josh Brown had eight.

The loss ended a solid season for St. Al’s basketball program. Both the boys and girls teams escaped the division tournament for the first time since 2007.

“I’m proud of both of them,” Thompson said. “We made the playoffs and only played five games with our whole boys team. I’m proud of the girls and the boys.”