The hardest part for Manuel Rangel came after the game.

Never mind the Xs and Os deployed by the White Swan coach against River View during Friday's Class 1A state semifinal. Now he was dealing with broken hearts and scarred souls.

"It's really difficult," he said later, quietly, outside a Cougars locker room which several players had entered in tears.

He knew and they knew, of course, why White Swan had lost. Free throws, which basketball people know are anything but, were clearly the Cougs' undoing in a 47-44 overtime defeat in the SunDome.

"I told our underclassmen at the end of my comments," Rangel said, "that when we shoot our free throws in practice it's important to stay sound and quiet. Stay focused. It might help you someday."

It would have Friday.

Had the Cougars made any of three one-and-one opportunities in the final 3:44 of regulation, for example, they would have become the first White Swan team to reach the state title game since Chuck Vivette, Darrell Winters, Pat Shellenberger and company etched their names permanently into their community's lore 31 years ago.

The Cougars (21-6) will, however, play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. today against Bellevue Christian, with the winner finishing third and the loser sixth.

"I know how they feel," said River View coach Roger Sonderland, whose fourth-ranked squad will oppose Charles Wright tonight at 7 for the championship. "We lost the very same game to Bellevue Christian two years ago. That's why I told their kids to keep their heads up and get that third-place trophy. I thought today they played a really great game."

To be sure, White Swan had played so hard and so well for so long.

A 10-3 run to start the second quarter put the Cougs ahead 20-16, and they either led or were tied until the final 33 seconds of regulation.

In fact, White Swan was up 39-34 on Aaron Castilleja's layup off a nice feed from Brady Carl with 4:58 to play.

They would go scoreless for the rest of regulation, however, and the Panthers finally pulled even on a close-in banker by rugged Mike Ledgerwood.

Guy Sanchey missed a leaning 6-footer from the baseline with 13 seconds left, after which River View's Kyle Gier rebounded, dribbled into the frontcourt and missed a 16-footer before time expired.

Sanchey got the first basket of the 4-minute overtime, but RV's Bo Sickler answered with a 3-pointer and senior standout Levi Davis followed with two free throws for a 44-41 Panther lead.

Cougars point guard Travis Van Pelt, who had zipped the ball crisply against River View's 2-3 zone defense, was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer with 1:08 left, and made all three free throws to tie it.

But Davis, who struggled to score against the man-to-man defense of Sanchey, hit two free throws at 57.6 seconds and another at 28.3.

The issue was finally settled when Van Pelt's half-court 3-pointer missed at the buzzer.

"Basketball is big in White Swan," Rangel said. "We have a great history. But you also can learn some things from the game that will help you later in life, and that's what I'm hoping for with these kids.

"Today we came up short. Tomorrow we have to come back and try to do better."

Castilleja, with 10 points, was the lone double-digit scorer for the Cougars although Adrian Komaromy had nine and Van Pelt and Carl added eight each.

Gier and Ledgerwood scored 12 each for River View (23-3), which had edged White Swan 58-55 in a district semifinal seven days prior. Davis finished with 11.