DANVILLE, Va. -- The William Peace University men's basketball team was toppled by LaGrange College, 80-78, on Thursday night ending the Pacers' historic season. William Peace finished the year 15-11 and broke the school records for most wins in a season and most D-III wins in a season.

The game featured teams with identical records and played out like two evenly matched teams. The Pacers held the lead for a majority of the game, but the Panthers were never far behind. The Pacers' lead rarely pushed past five points throughout the game, but the team did take a 43-48 lead into halftime.

The Pacers held that lead, although the Panthers remained close, until three minutes remained in the game when they took a 73-72 lead. The Pacers fought back and eventually tied the game at 78 after Chris Thomas made two crucial free throws with 25 seconds remaining. The Panthers held the ball for a last shot opportunity as Alex Bonner drew up an isolation play and made a contested layup for the Panthers with 2.7 seconds remaining.

The Pacers were able to inbound the ball and Dakota King was able to get off a last-second three-point attempt, but the shot didn't fall through the net and the Pacers' season was over.

Tonight's game was the last for seniors Chris Thomas, Ryan Emfinger and Jalen Vince who have been the leaders of the team this season. Emfinger has been the team's leading scorer, Thomas is the program's all-time leader in points, and Vince is the program's all-time leader in assists. Thomas finished with 13 points, Emfinger with seven points and seven rebounds, and Vince added four points and eight assists.

Two freshmen, Jay Hicks and Camden Ferguson, shined in their first postseason action of their careers. Hicks led the team with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting while Ferguson added 11 points. Dakota King, a sophomore, finished with 13 points.

Head Coach Claude Shields led the team to several single-season school records on both sides of the ball and got the team off to its best start in program history at 6-1. The team will certainly miss the three seniors who played their final game tonight, but Coach Shields has a solid group of young men who can make a serious run in the conference tournament next year.