HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In this time of postseason basketball dancing, the Salt Lake Community College basketball players were almost crowned kings of the junior prom at the Small Ball.

That was an excruciating almost for the Bruins.

What they hoped would be an NJCAA coronation celebration Saturday night instead felt more like a trip to the coroner's office after SLCC lost the junior college championship game 67-56 to South Plains College.

SLCC's players might have shed more tears than sweat on the Sports Arena court and locker room floor. That is saying a lot, considering the way the energetic and intense Bruins hustled and worked their way to a best-ever 32-4 record, a Scenic West Athletic Conference tournament championship and a second-place national finish.

The sadness was expected with the result. The Bruins, after all, seemed poised to win their school's first national title in any sport. They rallied from 11 down in the final minutes of their first-round win, cruised through the quarterfinals and semifinals, and then held a 13-point lead in the championship.

SLCC players and coaches might never forget how they gave up momentum and a 17-4 lead to the Texans out of Levelland, Texas. But teams they beat and many who attended the tournament might have equally lasting memories of their unusual, all-out defensive effort and a big week by undersized shooting guard Brian Green.

Coach Norm Parrish, who often said this squad wasn't his most talented but definitely his toughest, will remember how his players always gutted out their best effort.

"In our 36 games, I can only think of four halves where we didn't bring it, and there aren't a lot of teams in the country that can say that," said Parrish, whose 1994 team finished fifth in the school's only other NJCAA trip. "And I couldn't be prouder."

Green and point guard DaVell Jackson made the NJCAA All-Tournament team, and Green was named Outstanding Small Player. Though his team didn't get the ultimate prize, Green said he'll always carry fond memories of this squad that didn't have any highly recruited players but that played as a team.

"We didn't need any stars. I know me and DaVell got awards, but it's our team that helped us out. It's our coach that helped us out," Green said. "I'll remember this team forever."

One Division I college coach who watched most of SLCC's games said it had been many years since he'd seen a junior college program play defense like the Bruins. Before giving up 63 points to South Plains in the final 28 minutes of the finals, they made their tournament opponents look like confused Junior Jazz kids.

SLCC held its first three victims — Vincennes University, Southeastern Illinois and Three Rivers Community College — to a measly 31 percent shooting and 52 points a game. Even in the championship loss, the Bruins held the Texans 22 points under their scoring average and to just 42 percent shooting.