The No. 2-seeded Harrisburg Bulldogs’ 2021-22 season came to a disappointing end Saturday afternoon in New Franklin when they fell to No. 1 seed Salisbury in the Class 2, District 7 final, 42-36. With the stands at New Franklin High School filled to the rafters, every basket, foul, and free throw was met with a chorus of cheers and boos as contingents from both schools packed the house.

Harrisburg took the early lead over the Panthers at the end of the first quarter, 9-6. Only scoring eight in the second, Harrisburg held on to a slim 17- 15 lead going into the locker room at halftime.

Whatever was said to the Panthers in the locker room, seemed to make an impression as they came out and owned the third quarter, 18-7 to take a 33-24 lead. Salisbury was able to effectively shut down Harrisburg’s 1,500 point club member Tanner Lanes during the second and third quarters allowing him only one basket per quarter. That would change in the fourth when Lanes came alive putting up eight in the fourth as Harrisburg outscored Salisbury 12-10. That was not enough, however, to overcome Salisbury’s lead and the Panthers escaped with a 43-36 win.

Lanes led all scorers with 17 points. Eight of those came in the fourth quarter. Senior classmate Jace Carr added seven, all in the second half. Sophomore Hayven Samuels came through with two 3-pointers in the second quarter. Juniors Austin Darwent, Brayden Ott, and Anthony Alicea each added two points apiece.

“It was a tough end to a great season,” said Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher. “We had three wars with those guys (Salisbury). They’re a great team and we had a chance to beat them all three times. I want our guys to remember the good things that happened. It’s going to be hard to do, because they’ll be thinking about this game and how it defines their season, but it doesn’t.  We had a great end to our season. We played our best basketball at the end of the season.”

“We’ll miss our seniors, Our three starters, Tanner, Jace and Brayton Stephenson along with Travis Gardiner, our big guy off the bench, but Harrisburg basketball doesn’t rebuild, we reload.”

Harrisburg winds up the season with a 21-8 record. Harrisburg and Salisbury played three times during the season. Salisbury won all three games, each time with a margin of seven or fewer points.

Salisbury moves on to the MSHSAA Championship bracket to face 24-4 Sacred Heart tonight at 7:45 p.m. in Sedalia.