Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Ursuline boys basketball coach Keith Gunther (left) carries the runner-up trophy off the floor as the Fighting Irish head to the locker room following a Division III district final loss to Gates Mills Hawken on Saturday at Warren G. Harding High School.

WARREN — The Ursuline boys basketball team’s postseason fate was determined by a familiar foe on Saturday.

The Fighting Irish had their season derailed for the second year in a row by Gates Mills Hawken, as Ursuline fell to the Hawks 72-59 in the Division III, Northeast 2, district final at Warren G. Harding.

“Major disappointment, heartbreak,” Irish coach Keith Gunther said. “They obviously know something and think something about us that’s working for them because they’ve come in our bracket two years in a row and they’re the same guys that have kicked our behinds. Once again, we didn’t step up to the challenge, and they did.”

Hawken’s two stars, Ice Taylor and Greg Price, outperformed Ursuline’s dynamic duo, consisting of Jaylen Gunther and Noah Bell.

The Irish struggled to limit Hawken’s two scorers, as Taylor paced the Hawks with 31 points, while Price had 28. As a team, Hawken shot 58.5% from the floor.

“We let Ice drive on us, we let Price drive on us and just kick our behind,” Keith Gunther said. “At the end of the day, when you win, it’s the kids. When you lose, it’s the coaching. That’s what I’m sick about. You’re like, what could I have done better not to let the kids down and try and get them to win that game. It’s a struggle for me because you feel like coming in, we had a great opportunity. I don’t know what the answer is. I’m not real thrilled about the game, of course. Heartbroken, but you gotta move on.”

Jaylen Gunther was limited for most of the game by the Hawks’ defense. They were physical with him, they kept him off balance and forced him into tough shots that he couldn’t convert.

Despite going 4-for-22 from the floor, he still finished with 20 points since he went 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.

“I thought they played great defense. Every shot Jay had to take was tough,” Keith Gunther said. “I thought he got frustrated. He wasn’t making shots early, and I thought he got frustrated. I watched him pass up on a couple shots in the second quarter that he normally doesn’t. You could tell he just wasn’t confident.”

Bell picked up the scoring slack for the Irish, finishing with 24 points on 11-of-22 shooting.

His offensive production helped keep Ursuline in the game in the first half, and he made some tough baskets in the third quarter that helped the Irish to tie the game after trailing by four at halftime.

“Here’s what it boils down to — when I looked up at halftime, it was their two main guys — I thought Ice and Price just took it to another level and I thought Noah picked it up, but I thought Jay struggled. I thought he struggled the whole night. … I thought he struggled making shots, and I thought his decisionmaking was not the greatest. He got frustrated and Noah was able to pick it up for us.”

Shortly after Ursuline tied things up in the third quarter, Hawken went on a 10-0 run that pushed their lead to double digits for the first time.

By the end of the quarter, the Hawks led 52-42, and from there, they just continued to push their advantage, even after the Irish briefly cut the deficit to seven early in the fourth quarter.

“We come out, go on a run, punch them in the face and they punched us back,” Keith Gunther said. “The difference is, when we punched them, they called timeout and responded. When they punched us, we didn’t like it and we didn’t respond. In basketball, there’s going to be moments, highs and lows in games, and it’s all about who can handle the adversity.”

Ursuline ends its season at 19-6. While Bell and Jaylen Gunther are juniors and will return next season, the Irish bid farewell to three seniors in Alex Simon, Eddie Barnes and Nick Markulin.

“Nobody expected this group to do what they did,” Keith Gunther said. “I’m smart enough to know that everybody around the area doubted us for the whole year. What Eddie, Alex and (Markulin) were able to bring to the team was really something special. They were playing with two really good players, and then they were great role guys for us. We got 19 wins on the season with a great group of guys. Not happy about the tournament, but it was a very positive year.”

Hawken will face Chaney in a Division III northeast regional semifinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Medina.