The Saints fell to Hargrave Military Academy 73-63 in the state tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night.

Coach Larry Ward’s inaugural season as the Nansemond Suffolk-Academy’s boys’ basketball coach is officially over. The Saints were selected to the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II tournament and were matched up against Hargrave on the road. Even though the Saints lost the game, they were happy with the way they had competed Tuesday night.

“They are a talented team with a lot of size and athleticism,” Ward said. “We showed well, but we came up a bit short. I am very proud of my guys.”

Ward let his players know how proud he was of them after the game. NSA finished 13-11. They were mostly in all of their games, and they all feel at least six of their games could have gone their way. Ward believes as his group continues to get older, the close losses will switch to close wins.

NSA has an abundance of individual talent that will be looking to grow together over the next few years. George Pettaway and Jaden Freeman are each freshman talents. Kemauri Spencer is another promising freshman that will help NSA became a formidable contender over the next couple of years. The Saints are expected to return all but three players next season.

“Those three freshmen will form the nucleus of what we do going forward along with newcomers we will have,” Ward said. “It is good that those three guys will be able to build together. They are all really good friends, and they want to move the program forward. We have work to do, but we are excited to get that work done.”

This year’s record is a nice mark for NSA to build off of, but they have plans to become a better team in the offseason. They finished the season with two all-conference players in Freeman and senior D.J. White.

“This year has been great for our basketball program,” Freeman said. “We won some big games and lost a few close ones. Getting a new coach could be a scary process, but it the end it worked out perfectly. We enjoy and appreciate everything Coach Ward has done for us. At the end of the day, this season has been outstanding.”