Like a great movie with a disappointing ending (I’m looking at you, “Signs”) Tuesday night’s home court varsity basketball matchup between the Spartans and the visiting squad from O’Dea had some great moments.

But not quite enough of them.

The island team was defeated 68-63 after leading, falling behind, staging a lightning-quick comeback and then falling short in the finale. The contest was marked by improved cohesion among the Spartan squad, BHS Head Coach Steve Haizlip said, as well as improved consistency, focus and communication.

“I feel about as good as you can when you lose,” Haizlip said afterward.

It was a victory in itself, he added, that the Spartans were able to keep O’Dea’s Fighting Irish to only 68 points, when they had been averaging 88 per game so far this year.

The entire game was incredibly tight, with neither team breaking away in any quarter. The Irish towered over the Spartans on the court — only one player on the squad did not exceed 6 feet, and many were pushing 7.

Things weren’t looking good in the first half, which closed with the Spartans down 36-29.

O’Dea started to roll and pulled away by five after the first quarter, and also outscored BHS 18-16 in the second.

But in the third, the Spartans came back like a fresh team and quickly chopped away at the deficit. They outscored their guests for the first and only time (17-14) before an incredibly even fourth (18-17 O’Dea) brought the night to a close.

The comeback was the result of a lot of things being stressed in practice lately coming together at once, the coach said.

“We’ve been challenging them to play consistently and play hard and get extra possessions — and we did,” Haizlip said.

“That was the difference [in the second half]. We got extra possessions. We had Sawyer [Conrad] and Brendan [Burke] and Miles [Gori] and Eric [White] crashing the boards like we hadn’t seen before.

“I’m not happy we lost,” the coach added. “But, I’m happy with the level of play. I think they really stepped it up in the second half.”

Burke led the night in points. In fact, he was way out in front, finishing the game with 34 to his credit.

The next highest scorer was O’Dea’s Michael Carter, with 14.

Rounding out the top Spartan offensive efforts, Conrad chipped in 11 points, and both White and Marcus Clyde each managed seven.

The loss, their third in a row, brought the Spartans’ overall season record to 2-3.

The island team’s last win came on Dec. 5, against Emerald Ridge at Auburn Riverside High School during the Tipoff Classic.

The Spartans are looking ahead, however, and not back.

“We’re going to take the positives from this game and move forward,” Haizlip said. “Losing doesn’t feel good, but, in Metro, it’s a grind. And there are going to be teams that go through this, and the teams that make it out are the ones that will continue to grind and believe and take the positives.

“We had a lot of positives,” he added.

The Spartans travel next to face off against Seattle Prep Friday, Dec. 18.

The Bainbridge Island team is slated to next return home to BHS to host Chimacum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29, and then the Spartans will go on to host Kingston, at 7 p.m. the very next night.