The Woodland Christian boys basketball team’s season unexpectedly ended Tuesday night after a 73-61 loss to Sonoma Valley in the first round of the CIF State Championships.

A natural letdown could have been expected after the Cardinals (27-6, 14-0 Sierra Delta League) hit the highest of highs this past Saturday, defeating Argonoaut 87-63 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D5 championship.

Cardinals head coach Casey Neimeyer hoped that wouldn’t be the case as he sensed coming down from such a joyful peak could play a factor in the state tournament’s opening round.

“I wouldn’t say I had a fear of that, but it was something we addressed as a team to be careful of,” Neimeyer said. “As a coach and lifelong player, you always know it’s a danger when you have a high level accomplishment. It’s not that you get cocky, it’s just that you have just achieved your season goal and your mind gets some kind of complacency. It’s a long season and playing into March is not for the weak of heart. My message to the team was whoever wants it more at this point is going to get it.”

After a great start that included accruing a double-digit lead, a brutal third quarter in which the Cardinals were outscored 20-6 ultimately proved to be too much for them to handle as their season ended abruptly in front of the rowdy home crowd.

“I think we came out and did the right thing. At one point, we were up by 17, so we had to play well to be in that position,” Neimeyer recalled. “We got too complacent and played a bit sloppy. In a state playoff game, a team will hurt you if you do that. I think it’s hard to end the season like that when you know you could have been better.

“I’m still so happy with the section win, and this loss doesn’t take anything away from our section run, but it’s a bummer not to play your best game and go out like that.”

Despite the discrepancy in the teams’ seeds, the game played out very close, as state tournaments usually do. After a fantastic season, the No. 2 seed was a worthy reward for the Cardinals. Sonoma Valley (18-5, 6-6 Vine Valley League) clawed its way to a No. 15 seed and will now travel to No. 7 seed International for a second-round matchup Thursday.

The state final is set for March 14.

Things got off to a great start for the Cardinals, thanks to the in-form star duo of junior Romello Bruhn and senior Tanner Thomas.

An emphatic Bruhn dunk tied the game up at 7-7 before Thomas drained a 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a 10-9 lead.

Four Bruhn free throws sandwiched a bucket from Thomas before the star senior nailed another 3-pointer, opening up a 20-9 lead. One more bucket from Thomas for good measure made it 22-11 Cardinals after the first quarter.

Thomas continued his assault on the opposing rim to kick off the second quarter with a nice drive and lay-in to open up a 24-13 lead. Eight consecutive points from Bruhn, including back-to-back 3-pointers, made it 32-15.

“It’s exactly what you wanted to see in a first half,” Neimeyer said. “We talked about getting off to a good start, and those guys did that. Sonama came out hard after Romello, which was a game changer. Tanner came out with a fire, but he got into foul trouble, but we were really excited to see him get going inside.”

A few baskets later, another basket from Bruhn made it 36-22, but from there, Sonoma would mount a rapid 9-0 run right before halftime to cut the Cardinals lead to just 36-31.

The run continued into the third quarter as Sonoma opened up the scoring to cut the lead to just three points.

The Cardinals responded like the section champions they were with a 4-0 run to take a 40-33 lead. Sonoma then matched that run to close the gap back to 40-37.

Sonoma then took a one-point lead they wouldn’t look back from after making it 43-42. That lead then grew to 45-43, 48-42 and 51-42 at the end of a forgettable third quarter.

“Hats off to Sonoma,” Neimeyer said. “They made some adjustments. We gave them a glimpse of hope, and they were able to gain momentum. They were really good defensively. We had to have around 20 turnovers. Our decision-making was questionable, but hats off to them. They started hitting on all cylinders.

“When someone doesn’t go away and you expected them to, you start trying too hard to make things happen. We had shot well all season but beat our heads against the wall taking shots instead of going to the rim.”

Despite a fast and furious start to the fourth quarter, Sonoma held the Cardinals just far enough before mounting another run.

They’d go up 63-50 with just over four minutes left in the game. With 3:30 left, the Cardinals only managed to cut one point off the lead at 52-66. With three minutes left, the score was still at 66-54.

A Bruhn 3-pointer with just over a minute left made it 73-59 before a final basket from the fading home side made it a 73-61 final.

“It was a historic season,” Neimeyer said. “This is the best team in school history and the winningest team in Woodland history for boys basketball. Nobody can take that accomplishment from these guys.”