The Riverland men’s basketball team closed out their season with a 73-60 loss to Fergus Falls in Riverland Gym Saturday.

The Blue Devils (11-16, 4-8 MCAC South) led 18-10 early in the first half, but they trailed by as many as 18 in the second half as Fergus Falls’ size was two much for them. The Spartans’ inside duo of Wiley Jiles and Jordan Johnsrud combined for 37 points.

“It’s a tough way for us to finish out the season,” RCC head coach Dan Swift said. “We just had too much one-on-one offense in the second half. When we do well is when we have good ball movement and we didn’t have that at times.”

The Blue Devils, who did not qualify for the state tournament, used a 10-0 run that was capped by a Derek Hahn three to take an 18-10 lead with 9:31 left in the game but the Spartans battled back to take a 29-28 lead into the break.

AJ Kortz hit a jump shot to give Riverland a 30-29 lead to open the second half, but Fergus Falls responded with a 16-2 run to take the lead for good.

“Once you get behind like that, it’s so hard to get back in it against a good team,” Swift said.

RCC used a late 12-2 run to pull within 66-56 with 3:30 left, but it couldn’t pull any closer.

The Blue Devils were missing Taylor Oetken and Khirey Floyd with injuries and Brian Voigt played just the last minute with an injury.

“Brian’s a baseball first guy so we weren’t going to test him that much,” Swift said. “I was fortunate to have him play for us the past two years.”

Fergus Falls 29 44 — 73

Riverland 28 32 — 60

Riverland scoring: Shakir Gregg, 14; AJ Kortz, 12; Derek Hahn, 8; Jared Matson, 6; Josh Davis, 6; Taylor Morgan, 6; Taylor Oetken, 4; Richard Burch, 4; field goals: 36 percent (26-for-72); three-pointers: 23 percent (3-for-13); free throws: 71 percent (5-for-7); rebounds: 47 (Davism 9); turnovers: 16

Fergus Falls scoring: Wiley Jiles, 21; Jordan Johnsrud, 16; Jereome Vaughn, 8; Zaire Saunders, 8; Sam Neumann, 6; Nate Clark, 2; Stoney Grant, 1; field goals: 41 percent (29-for-71); three-pointers: 23 percent (3-for-13); free throws: 60 percent (12-fo-20); rebounds: 47 (Johnsrund, 10); turnovers: 13