Staff photo / Preston Byers Poland’s Carmine Tukalo (11) rises for a layup during the Bulldogs’ playoff loss to Lutheran East on Saturday in Cleveland Heights.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS — The Poland boys basketball season came to an end Saturday afternoon with a 68-35 loss to Lutheran East in Cleveland Heights.

The Bulldogs remained competitive for the entirety of the first quarter, but a 20-0 Falcons run to begin the second all but ended Poland’s postseason in the Division V, Northeast 1 district final.

“You see why they’re two-time — whatever they are — state champions. They pose some problems for us. They play hard. They do a lot of things that we don’t see in our area very often,” Poland coach Eric Fender said of Lutheran East, which has won back-to-back state titles and 10 consecutive district championships. “You got to give the credit to our kids; they battled early, had a little letdown in the second quarter. I think we came back out in the third and fourth. Again, for me, it’s just a testament to the kids that we played hard and never gave up.”

Despite being a massive underdog, Poland proved tough in the opening period, at the end of which the Bulldogs trailed 17-10.

The second quarter, however, was where the Falcons showed why they are the No. 1 seed in the region.

“Their size, I mean, we just couldn’t compete with it. My big guys battled. They did. They did a heck of a job,” Fender said. “And then, honestly, we told them at the beginning of the game, we were going to sort of give them the three early because [TJ] Crumble is a great player. He’s big, he’s lanky, he’s athletic. We were going to not let him get easy ones early. You got to give them credit; they stepped out and knocked some threes down, which forced us to change our defense a little bit.”

Jayden Nellemsbey, in particular, buried the Bulldogs in the second quarter. Nellemsbey made three consecutive 3-pointers in the opening three minutes, which helped the Falcons grow their lead from 7 points to 18.

Even after a Poland timeout in hopes of breaking the momentum of Nellemsbey and the Falcons, Lutheran East continued to shut down the Bulldogs. The Falcons scored 20 unanswered points to begin the quarter as Poland was held scoreless until a pair of Anthony Delluomo free throws with 1:58 left in the half.

While Poland’s Brady Kendall, who had a team-high 10 points, scored a few baskets before the break, Lutheran East took a 41-16 lead into the locker room.

Although the Bulldogs outscored the Falcons 10-9 in the third quarter, no miracle was in store for Poland. Lutheran East resumed its dominance in the fourth, during which the Falcons extended its advantage to more than 30 points.

In the final minute of the game, Fender replaced each of his four seniors — Michael Daley, Oliver McCully, Jacob Hayes and Jas Stefancin — for the final time.

The Bulldogs finished the season with a 16-8 record, having won the Northeast 8 Conference and earned a district runners-up trophy.

“I’m so proud of our guys,” Fender said. They came in, it wasn’t always easy. We battled injuries early … our soccer and football teams make long playoff runs, we have a short preseason.

“But to go out and win the NE8 by ourselves and then to go and play for a district championship, not many people, even as a runner-up, not many people get to bring home a trophy and a medal and all that. We were lucky enough to have that opportunity.”