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In the end, the critics were right. But not by much.

Brown City, who trailed by as much as 13 points with 2:00 left to play in the fourth, put on a comeback that fell just a little short against Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central on Monday night in the semi-final game of the Regionals at Bad Axe High School.

The Green Devils made the game close before free-throw shooting saved the Panthers season, giving them the 49-45 win. Nouvel moves on to face Flint Beecher in the Regional finals on Wednesday night. The Bucs survived a scare in the first semi-final matchup at Bad Axe, holding on to win a 61-57 decision in overtime over Unionville-Sebewaing.

The comeback began with 2:12 left to play in the fourth.

With Brown City trailing 47-34, the Saginaw Nouvel fans were preparing themselves for their team's victory, before a Jon Muxlow put-back cut the score to 47-36.

The next minute turned into the A.J. Burton show.

Burton, a junior who finished with 13 points, connected on three straight NBA-range three-pointers to bring the Green Devils to within 47-45 with just 1:11 left in the game.

Those were the last points Brown City would score, though, as Nouvel held on to the ball and made the necessary free-throws down the stretch to get the win. Nouvel, the state-runnerup in Class B a year ago, showed the tenacity of a veteran team down the stretch, as the pressure of the free-throw situations they placed themselves in never showed on the faces of the Panthers players.

The loss ends the season for Brown City at 20-2. The Green Devils won the Greater Thumb East title along the way, losing to just Reese and now Nouvel.

Donovan Ogboh's career came to an end in brilliant fashion. Ogboh scored a team-high 18 points while also grabbing eight rebounds.

But the best performance of the night belonged to Nouvel's Mitch Mulcahy. Mulcahy, a senior, was 9-of-12 from the floor on his way to a game-high 23 points.

Brown City was leading early in the game.

The Devils took an early 8-6 lead but then the offense went stale, scoring just seven points the final 11 minutes of the first half.

Nouvel led 24-15 at halftime, and while the Panthers struggled offensively as well in the third, rebounds on the offensive end allowed Nouvel to stretch their lead to 33-18 with 4:30 left to play in the third.

That's when the Green Devil offense woke up. Brown City closed the third on an 11-2 run, sparked by the play of Ogboh, who scored six points down the stretch to end the quarter.

Mulcahy opened the fourth with a three before nailing another two to match the efforts of Ogboh as the fourth quarter got underway.

With 6:15 left in the fourth, Nouvel was leading 38-31 before going on a run of their own. The Panthers outscored the Green Devils 9-3 over the next four minutes, setting up the dramatic conclusion to the game.

Burton ended the game with 13 points for Brown City.

Andrew Selich is Sports Editor at The County Press. He can be reached at (810) 664-0811 ext. 8124 or andrew.selich@lapeergroup.com