Elkmont's Patrick Jobman puts up an off-balance shot against Lauderdale County in the Class 3A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal Saturday. Jobman finished with nine points in his final high school game.

Elkmont’s unexpected run through the postseason came to an abrupt end Saturday afternoon in Hanceville, thanks to a suffocating Lauderdale County defense.

The Red Devils never could get in gear offensively and fell to the Tigers 59-32 in the semifinals of the Class 3A Northwest Regional tournament at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

Lauderdale County hit 10 3-pointers as a team, with Buddy Burchell hitting five of them, to run out to a big lead and never look back.

Elkmont also relies on shooting lots of 3-pointers but finished the game just 3-of-15 from behind the 3-point line, while hitting just 12-40 shots overall.

“Whether it be the atmosphere or the moment or whatever, we’re a better team than we showed tonight,” Elkmont coach Dennis Black said in the postgame press conference. “But I’ll take nothing away from them, because Lauderdale County shot the ball really well. They did a great job.”

Lauderdale County hit two late 3-pointers in the first quarter to take an 18-7 lead and were never challenged from there. The Tigers expanded the lead to 32-14 at halftime and then outscored Elkmont 18-5 in the third quarter to turn the game into a runaway.

Davis Hobbs led Elkmont (13-17) with 10 points, while Patrick Jobman added nine for the Red Devils. Lauderdale County (22-9) was led by Burchell with 17 points and Wyatt Newton with 13.

While Elkmont’s season may have ended in the Northwest Regional, the fact the Red Devils made the regional tournament is a great achievement. Elkmont hadn’t advanced to the Northwest Regional since 2012, and it wasn’t looking promising this year either.

Elkmont entered the Class 3A, Area 15 tournament riding a six-game losing streak and sporting a 10-16 overall record.

Then, in the area tournament semifinals, the Red Devils found themselves down 38-22 against West Morgan with less than 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter. But Elkmont came back to win that game 44-43 and defeated East Lawrence 49-45 in the area tournament final to win its second consecutive area tournament championship.

The run continued with a 51-34 win over Carbon Hill in the subregional game in front of a large and boisterous crowd that sent them to Hanceville.

So despite the lopsided loss Saturday, Black said he was still proud of what his team accomplished this season.

“I’d still sum this up as a good season,” Black said. “It’s been a while since Elkmont has made it here (for the Northwest Regional). This was on our list of goals, and our guys made that happen.”