COOS BAY — To beat No. 5 Thurston, Marshfield knew it would have to play about a perfect game.

The Pirates played just that way throughout the first quarter, and most of the second.

In the end, though, Thurston was too tough, and escaped Pirate Palace with a 53-48 Midwestern League win Tuesday.

Thurston led 48-39 with a minute to go after four straight free throws by Tim Autele, but the Pirates had one last charge.

Jordan Shepherd hit a 3-pointer from the left corner and then stole a pass and got the ball to Brogan Oswald, who nailed another trey, cutting the deficit to 48-45.

Future University of Oregon player Drew Wiley hit two free throws for the Colts with 26 seconds to go and Oswald hit another 3, bringing the home crowd to a frenzy.

But with 11 seconds left, Michael Akins calmly sank two free throws to clinch the win for Thurston.

“We practice pressure situations,” Akins said. “We work on them every day in practice.”

That paid off as the Colts made eight straight foul shots and nine out of 10 down the stretch — a big improvement over their recent games, Akins said.

Despite the loss, Marshfield played one of its best games of the season.

“It’s still a loss,” said Oswald, who led the Pirates with 17 points. “We don’t like moral victories.”

But he admitted the Pirates could gain momentum from their effort.

“It shows we can play with these guys,” Oswald said. “We just have to play a complete game. We didn’t do it tonight.”

Marshfield came close.

After Wiley opened the game with a four-point play for the Colts, nailing a 3-pointer from the wing while being fouled, the Pirates scored 14 of the next 16 points to take an eight-point lead. Both Oswald and Gatlon Giorgis had 3-pointers in that stretch and Marshfield crashed the boards well.

The Pirates led 16-10 after the first quarter and kept the lead throughout the second, with Jake Graves scoring a big three-point play off an offensive rebound and Oswald later adding another three-point play.

Wiley scored on a lob pass from Jonny Wymore just before halftime to cut the deficit to 26-24.

Thurston caught up in the third quarter, but the Pirates stayed tough. Wiley had a two-handed dunk off a lob pass from Autele early in the quarter, but Adam Porter knocked the ball away from Wiley when the Colts tried the same play moments later.

Calvin Green gave the Colts a 33-32 lead entering the final quarter by hitting a late free throw and Thurston stretched the lead to 44-34 with 3:10 to go on back-to-back 3-pointers by Akins and Wiley.

“Those were huge momentum changes,” Akins said. “Without those, it would have been a different ballgame.”

The Pirates scored five straight before Thurston went on the late free-throw spree.

Akins was relieved after the final buzzer and thrilled to get the road win.

“It’s definitely the toughest place in the league to play,” he said of Pirate Palace. “It’s just a different atmosphere.”

Thurston coach Doug Piquette agreed.

“One thing about the Marshfield kids,” he said. “They’re going to keep coming (at you). And they do it with class.”

Piquette said his own team got off to a slow start, partly due to Marshfield’s play.

“The first half, we knew we had to keep them off the boards. We didn’t. We knew we had to be patient and move the ball. We didn’t. We knew we had to set screens. We didn’t.

“They caught us off guard.”

But Piquette noted that his squad kept its composure, led by its senior playmakers.

Wiley finished with 19 points, on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor, and Akins added 15. Autele was a standout on defense and had seven points, though he also was called for charging three times in the fourth quarter, nullifying baskets each time.

“It’s good to have seniors,” Piquette said.

Marshfield coach Doug Miles was disappointed with the outcome, but not with the effort of his team.

“They did a great job,” he said. “The thing that I like about it is they played under control. They never did panic.

“The effort and the execution was incredible. I was very proud of that.”

Unfortunately for the Pirates, it’s still a loss, even if it is against a team whose only defeats have come in close games to top-ranked North Eugene and Class 6A clubs South Eugene and Sunset.

“I don’t think at this point in this program we should settle for losses,” Miles said, before giving credit to the Colts.

“That’s a very good team,” he said, adding the Colts did what they needed down the stretch with the free throws and some big defensive stops.

“That’s why they’ve got a chance to win the whole thing,” Miles said. “They do those little things right.”

Notes: In addition to Porter’s 17 points, Graves added 10 points and six rebounds for the Pirates. Giorgis had six points and three assists and Cody Slack added four points and six assists. ... Thurston improved to 3-1 while Marshfield fell to 1-3 heading into Friday’s game at top-ranked North Eugene. ... The Pirates played for the first time without post Chad Statham, who sprained an ankle early in Friday’s game against Springfield. Statham hopes to be back sometime next week, when the Pirates also hope to see the return of wing Jesse McClintock, sidelined for several weeks with a back injury.