Elkhart Memorial coach Kyle Sears (left) and South Bend Riley coach Eric Brand share a laugh prior to their regional finale Saturday night. Undefeated Riley topped Memorial 75-68. Both Sears and Brand played for coach Mike Lightfoot at Bethel College (Photo courtesy of Bill Beck’s Twitter Page)

MICHIGAN CITY – A gutty Elkhart Memorial basketball team saw its gut-wrenching postseason run finally come to an end Saturday night.

The Crimson Chargers battled No. 2 and undefeated South Bend Riley the full way before dropping a 75-68 final in the title game of the Class 4-A Michigan City Regional.

Riley, now 26-0, advances to play Carmel next Saturday in the North Semistate at Lafayette Jefferson High School.

Memorial sees its season end at 14-13.

The Chargers trailed the Wildcats just 66-62 with four minutes to play. Riley answered with a 9-0 run to put the game away.

Memorial fell behind early on 17-6 before trailing just 17-14 after the opening period. The Chargers used a 15-2 run to go ahead 34-23 in the second quarter. But with starters Hank Smith, Trey Gallope and Jose Soto all on the bench in foul trouble, Riley outscored Memorial 12-3 to cut the lead to 38-35 by halftime.

The Wildcats got a big third quarter from Damezi Anderson to take control. The senior star and IU recruit scored 10 points in the frame. Anderson finished with 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Memorial, which rallied from a 21-point deficit to stun Northridge to win the Elkhart Sectional championship game March 3, got 23 points from Smith. Gallope had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Elkhart Memorial coach Kyle Sears and first-year Riley coach Eric Brand both played for coach Mike Lightfoot at Bethel College. The pair are also both former players with the Elkhart Express.

Memorial showed its mettle in rallying past Valparaiso 67-60 in overtime in a semifinal game earlier Saturday.

Smith drained a long 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds to play to tie the contest.

Memorial trailed 18-7 early and 34-22 at halftime before rallying for the improbable win. Valparaiso missed six straight free throws in the fourth quarter to open the door for the Memorial comeback.

Valparaiso had beaten the Chargers 50-49 at Valpo back in December. Star junior Brandon Newman did not play in that game for the Vikings. The 6-4 junior, who averages 25 points and 10 rebounds per game, is being recruited by several Division I colleges.

The Vikings were just 22-32 from the line, while Memorial was 11-20.

Smith led the Chargers with 16 points and Soto had 14.

Newman paced Valpo, which finishes at 20-6, with 26 points.