Goshen head coach Johnny Mitchell knew his team was the underdog going in to Saturday’s championship game against Geneva. He knew his team would need a near-perfect game to knock off the undefeated Panthers.

The Eagles went toe-to-toe with Geneva for three quarters, but got outmanned in the second stanza, and fell to the Panthers 69-59.

Goshen trailed by a single point, 12-11, at the beginning of the second quarter. But Geneva went to the whip in the second frame, outscoring the Eagles 31-8 in the second quarter.

The Eagles chipped away at the Geneva lead the rest of the night, but never got within striking distance.

“We talked about avoiding that bad stretch, and we couldn’t tonight,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know how many games Geneva has won, but I know they haven’t lost any. They are just a really sound, fundamentally strong basketball team. I love the effort my guys showed in the second half, but we jus dug ourselves too big of a hole early.”

Mitchell tipped his hat to Geneva as a whole, but singled out two Panthers individually. Guards Gavin Danley and Marcus Wikon scored 49 of Geneva’s 69 points. Danley had a game-high 27, while Wikon dropped six three pointers en route to 22 points.

“We were looking to find a little rhythm this week, and I think we did,” said Mitchell. “We are fully healthy for the first time all season, and that helps a bunch. The guys are playing with more confidence, and we just have to keep pounding that rock. We are better now than we were a few days ago.”