The Keith Bears basketball teams were hoping to make school history this week by winning both 1A state championships. Instead, both teams saw their seasons come to an end Monday in state semifinal games in Birmingham.

In the moment, it’s hard for the players to see the bigger picture, but both teams have so much to be proud of.

The Keith girls posted a 58-8 record the last two seasons and nearly defended their 1A state championship from last year. Harriet Winchester and Zykia Pettway helped lead the Bears to three trips to Birmingham over the last four seasons, which is an unbelievable accomplishment

Spring Garden, the team Keith beat for the title last year, flipped the script on the Bears this year. Keith made just 35 percent of its shots and only got to the free throw line four times. Last season, it was the Panthers who struggled mightily from the field, shooting only 9.5 percent from the field in the first half.

On the boys’ side, Keith nearly pulled off an upset of defending 1A champion Sacred Heart. Head boys coach Tommy Tisdale isn’t one for motivational speeches, but he found a story from The Anniston Star that helped fire up his guys for the game.

The story was titled ““Final Four: Five keys to success for Sacred Heart’s boys.” The first key was an eye opener — just show up. The story went on to say “Sacred Heart will have the Bears outmatched in just about every facet of the game, but the Cardinals don’t need to be completely overconfident or the game could be closer than expected.”

As it turns out, Sacred Heart had to do a little more than just get on the bus. The Bears led by five with four minutes left before seeing that lead slip away down the stretch. With all due respect to the trio of great talent on Sacred Heart — D.J. Heath, Kevion Nolan and Diante Wood — I think most would agree that Keith’s John Pettway was the best player on the floor yesterday. Most people outside of Orrville haven’t seen Pettway play because Keith hadn’t made it to Birmingham since 2011, when he was a seventh grader.

Tisdale said Pettway was the best guard in the state, regardless of classification.

“It’s been a pleasure to coach this kid,” Tisdale said.

After hearing that, Pettway gave one of the best postgame speeches of any high school player I’ve covered in a loss.

“Tonight I gave it all I’ve got,” Pettway said. “I know I cried a little bit, but I can’t cry anymore because I’m satisfied with it because I gave it all I’ve got.”

Both Keith teams should hold their heads up high. The players and coaches worked extremely hard all year and accomplished so much.