All the little things added up in a six-point loss in the Elite 8.”

Barrington Coach Mike Raffa

Frustration. Disappointment. Pain.

Take your pick but each of these nouns can describe the feeling of the No. 5 Barrington High boys’ basketball team after a 65-59 loss to No. 4 Middletown in an Elite 8 game Sunday at Rhode Island College.

“Seventeen of the 18 teams in the open tournament finish with a loss,” coach Mike Raffa said. “Only one team gets the joy of experiencing a championship.

“I’m very proud of them. I’m proud of their work ethic. It hurts because we cared. It hurts because we were committed to one another. And it hurts because we had a great work ethic. I just thanked them and showed great appreciation for the journey and the ride they took us on the last three and a half months.

“For the kids coming back, I just wanted to make sure they saw Middletown’s celebration and use that as motivation going forward,” continued Raffa. “The last thing is through basketball you can learn a lot of life lessons so I hope they took some of those away from our season.”

Matt Raffa paced the Eagles (16-8) with 22 points while Nick Scandura added 16 and Dan Coogan nine.

Tim Robinson led the Islanders (19-6), who’ll be making their first trip to the Final Four, with 18 points while R.J. Wiggins added 14 and Ben Connerton 10.

Barrington faced some challenges, starting with Scandura drawing his third foul with 6:05 left in the first half and Matt Raffa exiting with an injury with 4:23 left on the clock.

As a result the Eagles lost their inside game and then their outside game.

“Those guys have had an incredible season,” coach Raffa said. “It was the Patriot way. We needed others to step up. They did a good job cutting it to three and we ran out of time.

“Just appreciate the fact when kids have their number called they step up and are ready to go.”

Middletown led 60-53 late in the fourth quarter, just before Raffa was injured.

One free throw by Evan Anderson and two by Coogan sliced that deficit to 60-56.

Middletown countered with one free throw apiece from Connor Lopez and Robinson. But Scandura converted a three-point play to pull the Eagles within 62-59 with just under a minute left in regulation.

The Islanders iced the victory when Pat Cranson put in the rebound of a missed shot and Wiggins sank a free throw.

Arguably one of the key sequences in the game came late in the third with Middletown leading 45-41. Connerton buried consecutive three-point shots which gave his team a 51-43 lead at the break.

“He was one of the players that concerned us coming into the game,” coach Raffa said. “He’s almost like a flex four and we wanted to make sure Nick protected the paint. There was a concern with Connerton’s ability to hit threes even though he didn’t play a lot in the first half. But he stepped up to make threes.

“We changed our defensive alignment after that and had Dan cover him and Nick cover (Roberto) Figueras to make sure we matched up better after that sequence.”

Coogan, one of only two seniors on a young team, had his own take on what transpired at the Murray Center.

“Our injuries were one thing but we could have played better,” Coogan said. “Obviously it stings but you have to give credit to Middletown because they played great.

“They hit some great shots. Their defense shut us down. It’s frustrating but these guys have a great future ahead of them so there aren’t any worries.”

As has been the case in several games was Barrington’s inability to convert free throws. In this game they converted only 15-of-23 attempts (65.2 percent).

“We’ve had games where we shot really well, maybe the high 80s, and we’ve had games where we didn’t,” coach Raffa said. “When you play in the Elite 8 all the little things matter. It’s important that you make free throws and you have defensive rebounding and assignments.

“All the little things added up in a six-point loss in the Elite 8.”

Coogan also acknowledged that inability to make free throws can be costly.

“We work on them every day,” he said. “It’s tough. Not a lot of these kids have played on this court with the backdrop behind the hoop. It’s not easy to shoot. But we have to keep working on them.”

Loss aside, Coogan had one positive in what was his last game as an Eagle.

“Meeting all these younger kids,” he said. “Our organization has a such a good, young core. We have four freshmen on our team. Seeing that they have such a bright future playing with us and doing well makes it exciting to see in the future.”