NEW PRAGUE — They finished with a flurry, but it wasn’t enough for the Packers to keep their season alive.

Austin’s late comeback fell short in a 62-54 loss to No. 2 seeded New Prague in the Section 1AAA boys basketball semifinals Saturday.

The third-seeded Packers (13-13 overall) trailed by 16 points with eight minutes left in the game but they pulled to within five points a couple of times in the late minutes.

“There’s no shame in the way we went down,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “It was just a matter of us not making shots. We just couldn’t get the ball in the basket in the first half.”

Austin used an 8-0 run to pull within 43-37 and it could’ve been closer. The Packers had a basket waved off during the run for a kicking call on Jacob Brehmer after New Prague’s Matt Geiger appeared to dribble of his leg.

“There’s two plays that stick out to me, that blown kick call and (Jed Kreuser) hitting that three (to make it 48-39 with 3:30 left in the game),” Fadness said.

The Packers had the ball down 53-47 with 1:27 left but Joey Swatfager was tied up for a jump ball that led to a turnover.

Austin’s comeback was led by senior T.J. Fritz, who finished with 24 points while knocking down 16-of-17 free throws.

“We attacked and got to the foul line and some good things happened,” Fritz said. “To come back from 17 down was a good thing.”

Austin fell behind due to a very slow start. The Packers didn’t hit a field goal in the game’s first 11 minutes and New Prague’s Kreuser eventually found his stroke from the arc after missing a few early. He knocked down two straight threes to put the Trojans up 18-11 and New Prague (19-9 overall) led 23-15 at the break after Cale Girten converted a three-point play with three seconds left in the half.

Austin missed all 11 of it’s first half point attempts and it finished just 1-for-23 from the arc.

“The start killed us. We couldn’t put the ball in the hole and its hard to come back against a team that’s in your face and nothing’s going to come easy,” Fritz said. “We knew they were going to make some threes but it was about holding them to as little as possible and we just didn’t get that done tonight.”

Austin’s top scorer Connor Gunderson struggled to find his shot as he finished with just eight points two days after pouring in 34 points against Red Wing.

“I feel bad for Connor. He played hard but his shots just didn’t fall,” Fadness said. “I don’t fault anything he did tonight. The ball just didn’t go in the basket and it was one of those nights.”

For Fritz, it’s hard to let go of the season.

“It’s tough, we’ve put in a lot of work and a lot of hours. It’s hard to imagine it’s all over for us,” he said.

As for next year, the Packers have a trio of freshman coming back from the varsity squad and Fadness hopes to get more players on the court.

“I’m not going to call next year a rebuilding year but we’re going to drastically change the way we play,” he said. “We’re going to press and run and play a lot of bodies. It’ll keep the seniors involved and integrate the young kids.”

Austin 15 39 — 54

New Prague 23 39 — 62

Austin scoring: T.J. Fritz, 24; Matt Duren, 11; Connor Gunderson, 8; Jacob Brehmer, 8; Jamaal Gibson, 2; Tom Aase, 1; free throws: 72 percent (23-for-32); rebounds: 39 (Brehmer, 10); turnovers: 16

New Prague scoring: Danny Geiger, 19; Jed Kreuser, 14; Joe Hatch, 9; Cale Girten, 7; Nick Litzau, 5; Nick Gerdes, 4; Alex Dittberner, 2; free throws: 75 percent (30-for-40); rebounds: 35 (Girten, 7); turnovers: 12