Oak Mountain and Vincent High School’s Cinderella seasons came to an end last week with both teams falling in the regional finals.

On Saturday night, OMHS’ season ended at Jacksonville State University at the hands of Anniston High School.

The Eagles fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 50-44 in the Northeast regional tournament championship.

According to OMHS head coach Jerry North, his young team gained a lot of experience from the season.

&uot;This team is a very young team,&uot; North said. &uot;We only have two seniors, and though they both were starters, we have a lot of young talent coming back next year. We’ll have to replace Shawn Curtis, but we’ve got some kids that really love basketball.&uot;

North said his team’s success was sort of a surprise.

&uot;They really exceeded everyone’s expectations this year,&uot; North said. &uot;I knew we would come out and battle every game, and that’s how the season went all year. We got beat by a lot a couple of times this year, but we didn’t beat anybody by a lot. Every game we played this year was nip-and-tuck to the end.

&uot;I am very proud of the determination these kids showed this season. We still have broken hearts because we are not in the final tournament, but I am very proud.&uot;

North and the Eagles reached the championship game by way of a 53-49 win over Lee-Huntsville.

Donald McMahon paced the Eagles with 13 points, while Brian Adams recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Kearley chipped in nine points in the win.

&uot;The kids played exactly like I wanted them to play,&uot; North said of the win. &uot;We knew we had to come in and slow the game down and not turn the ball over and that’s what we did.

Lee likes to run up and down the court, and we knew we would not be able to get into a game like that with them and have a chance to win. We played really good defensively, and that was the difference in the game.&uot;

North said free-throw shooting was another key factor in the semi-final win.

&uot;We absolutely had to hit our free throws, and we hit some key ones in this game – especially in the fourth quarter.&uot;

Adams and Kearley led the way for the Eagles in the championship, scoring 14 points each in the 6-point loss.

North said the game plan heading into the championship game against Anniston was the same as the semi-final game against Lee-Huntsville.

&uot;The final game was basically a carbon copy of the previous game,&uot; North said. &uot;We tried to slow the pace down and limit our turnovers,&uot; North said. &uot;We did that for the most part