The hopes of Bulldogs fans were alive and well in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Virginia High School League Group 4A boys’ basketball state championship game featuring King’s Fork and I.C. Norcom high schools.

But as the Greyhounds built a double-digit lead with three minutes to go, a sinking feeling began to set in.

A large crowd of King’s Fork supporters got up early to make the journey to Richmond, hoping to witness the schools’ second boys’ basketball state title win since 2009. But the Greyhounds went on to win their second straight title, and fourth in the last six years, by the score of 52-40.

Bulldogs coach Josh Worrell opened up the postgame press conference by saying, “We were blessed to get the opportunity to play in this game today.”

Trips to the state championship game are not guaranteed, and that is something Worrell has learned by experience despite having led winning, competitive King’s Fork teams for the last decade.

On Saturday, Kavion Johnson, a King’s Fork student on hand to support the Bulldogs, summed up his team’s performance when he said, “They played hard. They could have played a little bit harder on defense, and missed free throws killed them.”

They also struggled from the field, going 13-for-40, 32.5 percent.

“Norcom did a great job,” Worrell said. “They’re a well-coached team.”

The respect between the coaches is mutual, and they have had a lot of postseason run-ins to become familiar with each other.

“Josh does a great job,” Greyhounds coach Leon Goolsby said. “Two years in a row, they put us out, then last year we put them out, and this year we met in the regional championship. We beat them, that was a great game, and this was a great game. Both teams played hard, but we just happened to be the better team today.”

Though the Suffolk team lost, Norcom featured some key players with Suffolk connections.

Sophomore guard Travis Ingram, one of the Greyhounds’ top players, used to attend school at King’s Fork, and played for its junior varsity team as an eighth-grader.

In taking on the Bulldogs on Saturday, he also faced his brother, KF senior guard Craig Ingram. The elder Ingram moved last year and spent a season at Norcom. He helped it win a state title, but then was able to return to King’s Fork, where he has played his entire varsity and JV career.

The brothers were the second-highest scorers on their respective teams on Saturday, with Travis producing 10 points and Craig producing eight.

Greyhounds junior guard Travis Fields and sophomore forward Kevin Davis led all scorers with 16 points apiece. Davis, who played for Nansemond River High School last year, also added 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Lakeland High School even had a hand in the game, as every single member of the Bulldogs coaching staff is a Lakeland graduate.

King’s Fork junior guard/forward Keith Stagg led his team with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

His disappointment was palpable near the end and after the game. He said he will “just work harder in the offseason, try to get the opportunity to come back.”

Support for the Bulldogs from the stands outlived the game, as King’s Fork student D’Angelo Dillard said, “Still proud of them.”