HINESVILLE – In his final high-school game, LaGrange Academy’s Whit Moreman went out with a flourish.

Moreman, the Warriors’ standout post player, scored 24 points and had an amazing 27 rebounds during Saturday’s GISA Class AA state-tournament game against First Presbyterian.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Moreman’s big day wasn’t enough to keep their season from ending.

A strong First Presbyterian team pulled away late for a 67-53 victory to advance to the final four, while LaGrange Academy ended its season with a 17-9 record.

When it was over, LaGrange Academy head coach Britt Gaylor held his final post-game meeting of the season with the players, including the five seniors.

“That was my first senior class playing four years for me,” Gaylor said. “It was a lot of real good relationships I had with guys in that room. It was tough. I hate it for them. But like I told them afterward, we define success as the relationships we build, and if we left everything out there. And we did. We gave everything we had, pretty much the entire season. It was a successful year from that end.”

One of those seniors was Moreman, who delivered quite a parting shot with his dominant performance.

“He kept us in the game,” Gaylor said. “Lincoln (Anderson) and Will (Trotter) got in foul trouble. That took some of our scoring away. Whit just was rebounding everything that went up. He scored 24, and they were all tough baskets. He put everything together in that game. It was fun to watch.”

The Warriors were in the game most of the way, but things got away from them late.

“They went on about a 6-0 run that kind of broke our back,” Gaylor said.

Gaylor added that “we played really well defensively to keep us in the game.”

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports