The No. 2 King’s Fork boys’ basketball team fell 65-48 to No. 1 Lake Taylor High School in Friday’s Conference 17 tournament championship game at King’s Fork High School.

The Bulldogs showed improvement, though, against the Titans after losing to them 65-43 at home on Feb. 5 during the regular season.

“It’s the best showing we’ve had against them this year, defensively and offensively,” King’s Fork coach Josh Worrell said. “If we had taken advantage of a few more opportunities, we could have made it a closer game than what it ended up being.”

The Bulldogs were playing well in the first quarter until the last minute and a half when Lake Taylor opened up a 12-point lead, leading 25-13 entering the second period.

Worrell was pleased with his team’s defense in the last four to five minutes of the second quarter.

“We just unfortunately couldn’t cash in on opportunities at the free throw line or against their press,” he said.

The Titans led 35-26 at halftime, at which point Worrell instructed his players to be patient and just get Lake Taylor’s lead down to five by the end of the third quarter.

But the Bulldogs responded more quickly than that, making the score 35-31 a few minutes into the second half.

With the quick success, “unfortunately, we lost our focus a little bit,” Worrell said.

The Titans ended up going on a run similar to the one with which it ended the first period, and they led by 11 entering the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs never got the lead under eight in the final period.

For the game overall, “I think we played some good defense in spurts,” Worrell said, alluding to greater consistency as still being a goal for his team.

Bulldogs senior center Chris Roscoe finished with 11 points, junior center Raemaad Wright had 11 points and sophomore guard Rontre Pope added 10.

Worrell gave high praise to Lake Taylor, a team King’s Fork could see again, possibly in the regional semifinals or regional final.

“When you play really good teams like that, you’ve just got to continue to fight,” Worrell said.

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs (13-11) take on host Heritage High School at 7 p.m. in the Region 4A East tournament quarterfinals.

Anticipating the Hurricanes could be one of his team’s opponents in the regional playoffs, Worrell scheduled a regular season game against Heritage for Feb. 2. The host Bulldogs fell 59-48 in that game, but Worrell likes his team’s chances in a rematch.

“I think we do have a good opportunity to win,” he said, though he noted his team must do a good job guarding Hurricanes senior point guard Jermaine Marrow, who scored 31 points in the Feb. 2 contest.

Also on Tuesday, the King’s Fork High School girls’ basketball team will play its regional quarterfinal game against host Jamestown High School at 7 p.m.

With victories on Tuesday, the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will clinch berths in their respective Group 4A state tournaments.