NORTH BEND — Elliot Adams stayed on the floor of North Bend’s gymnasium visiting with friends after most of his teammates had descended into the basement locker room Wednesday night.

“It’s just hard to imagine it’s over,” Adams said, reflecting on North Bend’s 47-40 playoff loss to visiting Molalla.

Adams, a four-year starter, finished his career with a typically solid game — 12 points and nine rebounds — but never got a chance to experience a basketball playoff victory in four tries.

Molalla overcame a 10-point second-quarter deficit with great rebounding and a big night from its own superstar, Tarrance Glynn.

Glynn didn’t have any points in the game when Luke Clark’s free throws gave North Bend a 20-10 lead with 2:10 to go in the first half.

But the Capital Conference most valuable player took over from there, getting a three-point play on a drive to the hoop and then feeding teammate Jake Moore for a 3-pointer to pull the Indians within four points. Glynn added another basket just before halftime after Sam Lynass had scored for the Bulldogs, and then gave the Indians the lead early in the second half.

Casey Newton opened the half with a rebound basket for Molalla and then Glynn hit a 3-pointer for the Indians’ first lead of the night. After Adams put North Bend back in front with an inside hoop, Glynn had a slam dunk off a steal and then went coast-to-coast for another basket after a rebound, giving Molalla the lead for good.

By the end of the night, Glynn had 18 points and 16 rebounds. For good measure, he added three big assists.

“When they were up, we were just a little too passive,” an excited Glynn said after the game.

He said Molalla coach Ryan King told the Indians to be more aggressive in the second half.

“We just came out and played like we always play — working hard,” Glynn said.

After Glynn’s third hoop of the third quarter, Lynass hit two free throws for the Bulldogs. But that was all North Bend’s scoring, as the team shot just 1-for-12 from the floor in the quarter.

Glynn added two free throws, Jeremy Sprague scored inside off a feed from the big post, and Brandon McCullough swished a 3-pointer from the left corner just before the buzzer, giving the Indians a 34-26 lead heading to the final quarter.

North Bend picked up the scoring in the fourth, cutting the lead to four three different times. But that’s as close as North Bend got.

Clark scored and Potts added two free throws to pull the Bulldogs within 34-30, but Jake Moore answered for Molalla. After Adams scored inside, Molalla scored six straight to go up 42-32 with 4:22 remaining.

North Bend rallied again, behind a basket by Adams, and two free throws and a jumper by Clark, to pull within four with 1:10 to go.

But Sprague and Glynn hit two free throws each to put the game out of reach.

North Bend was hampered by its poor shooting in general, and especially outside. The Bulldogs were 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the game and 15-for-53 overall (28 percent). The Indians weren’t much better at 17-for-52 (33 percent), but did get five 3-pointers, including two by Sprague that accounted for all Molalla’s points in the opening quarter. Sprague finished with 13 points on the night.

The Bulldogs played their best basketball early.

Jake Lucero opened the scoring with a drive to the hoop and Potts added another basket.

After Sprague’s first trey, Clark hit back-to-back jumpers for the Bulldogs. Potts followed Sprague’s second hoop with a basket to give North Bend a 10-6 lead after the opening eight minutes.

North Bend then took its biggest lead on a 10-2 run that included a basket from Clark and two from Adams, then two free throws each by Lynass and Clark.

“We had a lot of confidence early,” Adams said.

But then Glynn took over and Molalla got back in the game.

“The kids kept battling,” King said of his team. “They never quit. It’s a testament to their season. The kids kept fighting.”

The offensive rebounds — 16 in all — were particularly damaging to North Bend.

“For some reason, we’ve been giving up a lot of offensive rebounds the past few games,” North Bend coach John Olson  said.

On Wednesday, that was partly due to playing a zone defense, rather than the typical man-to-man style North Bend uses, in an effort to slow Glynn.

“We’re not a zone team,” Olson said, though he added the style worked to North Bend’s benefit when Glynn wasn’t scoring early.

King said Molalla needed to rebound from North Bend’s hot start, which he attributed to the Bulldogs’ own effort.

“They did a nice job,” he said. “They’re a good basketball team.”

Unfortunately for North Bend, it’s Molalla making the drive to La Grande on Saturday to play the top-ranked Tigers for a spot in the Class 4A state tournament.

Olson said he’s getting tired of first-round playoff exits, which in recent years also have included a pair of road defeats to North Valley sandwiched around a home loss to a run-and-gun Madras club.

This loss was particularly rough for Olson because he wanted to see the seniors — Adams, Clark, Potts, Andrew Slack and Steffen Drucks — get a playoff win.

“I just appreciate all the seniors and the effort they gave,” Olson said. “It wasn’t a lack of effort and desire tonight.”

Clark finished with a team-high 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Lynass and Potts had six each.

Olson was able to look ahead to what should be another bright season next year.

“I’ve got a good group of kids coming back,” he said. “They love basketball and they love playing hard.”

Sutherlin falls

Phoenix beat host Sutherlin 44-41 in another first-round matchup Wednesday.

Mike Shepherd had 21 points and Ryan Robinson forced overtime with a free throw with two seconds showing on the clock as the Pirates advanced to the second round, where they will meet Cascade on Saturday for a spot in the state tournament.

Bradley Seehawer, who beat North Bend with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the league playoffs on Saturday to give Sutherlin the league’s No. 2 seed for the playoffs, had 13 points, including two 3-pointers, for the Bulldogs.