sicily island — The Sicily Island Tigers had a tough act to follow after reaching the state finals in 2013-14. But the Tigers were determined to get back there.

However, their journey came to a close Friday in the semifinals of the LHSAA Class C tournament, as they fell to No. 1 seed Atlanta, 69-53.

“I don’t think all of my guys showed up to play,” Sicily Island head coach Curtis Shavers said. “We just didn’t come out in the second half and do things we needed to do. We became complacent and I was seeing the lack of energy.”

Sicily Island found themselves in a hole early, down 20-11 at the end of the first quarter. But the Tigers were able to fight back and draw within eight at halftime.

“We were down early, but we battled to get back within striking distance at half,” Shavers said.

A slow start to the second half doomed Sicily Island, though, as they were outscored 18-13 in the third quarter and entered the fourth down by 13.

Atlanta went on and sealed the game by posting 19 points in the final quarter of play.

Larry Plummer was the leading scorer for Sicily Island with 22 points, and Shavers said he was proud of how the team leader continued to battle until the final buzzer.

“He carried the load for the team,” Shavers said. “He didn’t have an exceptional shooting night like he normally does, but they constantly had two men on him. Even when he was free, there was still a second man in his area to try and cover him and made him work extra hard. It weighed on him in the second half.”

When the game came to a close, Shavers said he could see how down his team was, knowing it was a game they could have been in more.

“I think they were a little down and dejected because they knew they didn’t play their best game,” Shavers said. “They felt like if it could have started over, it would have gone differently.”

Sicily Island’s season is complete, and the Tigers finished with 19 wins, which is something Shavers knew would be tough after all the things his team was forced to deal with this year.

“I’m very happy, considering everything this season,” Shavers said. “To go as far as we did last year, and to have one of our prominent players abandon us before the start of the season, the guys did a tremendous job. I contribute a lot of that to Larry, too. He put the team on his shoulders, stayed the course and accepted the challenge.”

Taren Sapp was the leading scorer for Atlanta with 25 points. Atlanta now advances to the quarterfinals where they will take on the winner of Johnson Bayou and Gibsland-Coleman.