Ten seconds can be a long time, a lesson the Spartans learned the hard way Tuesday night.

The really hard way.

The Bainbridge High varsity boys basketball team found themselves up by one point with just over 10 seconds left to go in the game’s final quarter, a frantic ending to a long, brutal war of attrition which began with an almost immediate tie in Tuesday’s home game against the visiting Lakeside Lions, and neither team being able to gain a lead for more than a moment or two throughout the contest.

Two sunken Lakeside free throws later, and the Spartans were looking down the wrong end of a 67-66 score with 10.9 seconds left to play.

A foul by Lakeside put Bainbridge in the position to gain back ground through some fancy free-throw work of their own, but senior guard Blake Swanson’s tosses went wide and the game resumed, on a collision course now to its ill-fated finale.

Ultimately, Bainbridge ran out of time to make another play to regain the lead and suffered a dispiriting 68-66 loss.

There was, Spartan Head Coach Scott Orness said afterward, no reason for BHS to have lost the game.

“I’m going to lose some sleep over this one, and I hope those guys lose some sleep over this game too,” he said of the Spartans.

“You’re going to lose sleep on this game if you’re a competitor. It’s got to hurt and sting, and you’ve got to remember it so it doesn’t happen again.

“We’ve had too many games at home this year where we’ve gotten bitten at the end of the game,” he added.

The team’s failure to rally in the game’s finale was the subject of discussion amongst the players afterward as well.

“One thing that we need to get better at as a team in the last minute is [to] just relax, especially when we’ve got a lead,” said Spartan senior guard Trent Schulte. “It was our game to lose. We were up the whole time, and we all thought we were going to pull out in the end.

“That’s just the way it went,” he added. “It was a hell of a game.”

Indeed it was, one that started with a frantic first quarter and a rush of scoring that left things tied 2-2, and also ended in a 19-19 tie.

Bainbridge claimed the lead by the end of the first half, outscoring Lakeside 12-10 in the second quarter.

The Lions leaped back in front in the third, however, and again evened things up with a 21-19 quarter and the score knotted at 50-50.

Bainbridge was then beaten, but barely, in the game’s final quarter. The loss at home dropped their overall season record to 7-7 and their league play record to 4-7.

BHS is ranked in fifth-place in the Metro Mountain, behind Bishop Blanchet (9-8 overall).

The ranking is unfortunate, Orness said, since this year’s Spartan squad has the skills to challenge any team in the league.

“We’ve been playing a little tentatively instead of being aggressive at the end,” Orness explained. “We played hard, but we made mistakes.”

“We turned the ball over twice with poor passing,” he explained. “We had a violation, and other turnovers. We had three turnovers in the last minute and a half that really killed us.”

“Whether it’s a three in the key or poor passing or whatever, those are mistakes and unforced errors,” he added. “Unforced errors kill games.”

Bainbridge behemoth, the 6-foot-9 senior wing/post Oskar Dieterich, led the team’s offensive efforts and scored 16 points.

Fellow BHS senior Ben Beatie managed 14 throughout the night and sophomore guard/wing Lyle Terry chipped in 11.

There are no nights off in the Metro League, Orness said, adding that dwelling on the loss is not the same as remembering it.

“We’ve got to learn from this and hopefully grow,” he said.