PELAHATCHIE — Most nights, not shooting a single free throw would be cause for protest.

For St. Aloysius on Monday, it was reduced to a statistical curiosity. Too many other things went wrong for the Flashes to point to it as anything else. Injuries, turnovers, bad shooting and poor rebounding all reared their ugly head. St. Al fell prey to those four horsemen of the basketball apocalypse and saw their season end in the first round of the Division 7-1A tournament with a 65-41 loss to Sebastopol.

“We just had a hard time scoring. They’re good athletes, and their quickness bothered us,” St. Al coach Gary Miller said. “We had a hard time on the boards and had a cold spell there in the third quarter, too.”

St. Al’s cold spell lasted most of the second half.

After shooting 45.8 percent from the field in the first half, St. Al shot just 29.6 percent (8-for-27) in the last two quarters. The Flashes didn’t have a chance to shoot poorly from the free throw line — literally. Sebastopol was only called for six fouls in the game, none of them shooting fouls. St. Al did not attempt a single free throw.

St. Aloysius was called for 16 fouls, and Sebastopol went 8-for-22 from the line.

“I can’t remember having a game without a free throw, and I’ve been playing for 10 or 12 years,” said St. Al senior guard Chip Donald, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds. “They got a lot of calls because of the offensive rebounds. We weren’t blocking them off the boards.”

Miller, while frustrated with the officiating for much of the game, declined to point the finger at the referees for the lack of free throws. He instead blamed his own team for not creating enough opportunities. The Flashes often settled for outside shots instead of driving to the hoop.

“I thought we probably should’ve shot a few. But the officiating didn’t beat us. We didn’t get it around the basket enough to shoot free throws,” Miller said.

The Flashes also committed 23 turnovers in the game to just 10 for Sebastopol, were outrebounded 36-30 and lost two more players to injury.

Junior forward Alex Lanier, the team’s leading scorer, rolled his ankle early in the fourth quarter. Later in the period, sophomore Daniel Tuggle fell hard under the basket and broke his collarbone. They were the latest in a long line of injured St. Al players. If the season hadn’t ended with the loss, Tuggle would have been the third player from the regular rotation to go down with a season-ending injury.

“We don’t have a lot of depth or experience to begin with. We already had a lot of injuries, and it’s hard to overcome at a certain point,” Miller said.

The second-half swoon allowed Sebastopol to pull away after leading by just three points at halftime, 29-26. The Bobcats (13-12) held St. Al to less than 10 points in each of the last three quarters and put the game away with a 17-4 run in the fourth.

(G) Sebastopol 69, St. Al 34

Bianca Thomas scored 14 points, and Sebastopol ended St. Aloysius’ season in the first round of the Division 7-1A tournament. Senior Elizabeth Mazzanti and sophomore forward Tori Hines scored 10 points apiece for St. Al (4-21).

Despite the loss, and a trying season, St. Al coach Carolyn Bradley was upbeat about the team’s future prospects. Mazzanti was the only senior on the roster, and five players who were regular starters this season will be back next year.

“Inexperience — one senior, one junior. That’s what hurt these girls. The next few years they’re going to go up, up, up,” Bradley said.

Whether Bradley will be with them is another issue. She was hired in November to replace Carla Koestler, who resigned to be with her ill daughter Katie. St. Al has sought to find a full-time coach each of the last two seasons, but has not had any success.

“I’ve had a great time. The girls and the parents have been wonderful,” Bradley said. “I can’t say enough about the whole organization. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

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