Florence’s Dustin Williams (4) looks on as fellow Bobcat Evan Johnson (1) blows by Jake Schar (24) on a drive to the basket during Friday night’s WIAA Regional at Florence High School. Unfortunately, for the host Bobcats, the Vikings walked off the court with a 59-39 triumph, ending Florence’s 2022-23 season. Johnson, one of five seniors on Florence’s varsity roster, finished the game with nine points. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

FLORENCE, Wis. — The postseason aspirations for the Florence boys varsity basketball team quickly faded, as the Bobcats were knocked out of the WIAA Regional tournament by the visiting Gibraltar Vikings 59-39 on Friday night.

The Bobcats entered the regional clash with a 22-1 record and had won their first Northern Lakes Conference title since 1995-96.

But, that didn’t seem to make any difference to the Vikings (12-14), who went onto top Oneida Nation 68-35 on Saturday for the regional championship.

“Lots of emotions with this game,” said Florence Bryan Bomberg, who also celebrated his 100th win this season. “Sick to my stomach because it’s over. But so damn proud of this team for the great season we had.”

It looked early on as if the Bobcats might be the team to advance, as they fought their way to a slim one-point lead, 25-24, at halftime. The second half, however, would be a very different story, with the Vikings dominating the action and outgunning Florence 34-15.

“For us, we did not shoot the ball well at all,” Bomberg said. “We limited (Jake) Schar to 11 points. He’s been clipping away at 19 a game.

“However, we let Braden Sitte and Carl Burgess get too comfortable,” he added.

Burgess stepped up to hit Florence for a game-high 21 points, while Sitte finished with 14 points.

The Bobcats were unable to equal that, with Dominic DeMuri leading Florence with 10 points. Evan Johnson and Logan Schuls both tallied nine points in the loss, with William Kelley chipping in seven points and Blake Smith adding in four points.

DeMuri, Johnson and Smith, along with classmates Seth Axley and Ethan Burns, walked off the court having played their last hoops game in a Bobcat uniform.

“I wish we were still practicing, prepping for games and playing but that is not the case,” Bomberg said. “This group made coaching enjoyable

“I am going to miss this group of seniors. Not only are they talented players, they’re great young men and give me a lot of hope for our future.”

MODELTOWNERS 39, WYKONS

IRON RIVER — The season-long struggles for West Iron County continued against visiting Gwinn as the host Wykons dropped their regular-season finale to the Modeltowners 39-38 on Thursday night.

The Wykons (1-21) got a strong performance from Elijah Oberlin, who tallied a team-high 17 points in the loss to the Modeltowners (1-21), who scored their only win of the 2022-23 season on Thursday.

Other contributors for the Wykons included Payton Hill with 10 points, Drew Alexa with four points, Daniel Jones with three points, and Keenan Dobson-Donati and Abel Lundin both with two points.

The Wykons will open up postseason play in the MHSAA’s Division 3, District 66 tournament facing host Manistique (12-10) on Monday at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to clash with Iron Mountain (20-1) on Wednesday.

JETS 64, TROJANS 38

POWERS — The Skyline Central Conference-Small champion North Central Jets capped off their 2022-23 regular-season with a dominating 64-38 victory over rival Forest Park on Thursday.

The Jets (16-5 overall, 8-1 conference), who built a 25-15 halftime lead, outscored the visiting Trojans (14-8 overall, 6-3 conference) in three of the four quarters of play. Even in the third quarter, the North Central battled Forest to a draw with both teams scoring 13 points.

Connor Florenski and Dylan Plunger each hit for double figures for the Jets with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

Kevin Giuliani paced the Trojans with a team-high 12 points, with Matt Showers and Gaven Rintala each putting up six points in the loss.

The Jets get a bye from first-round action of the MHSAA Division 4, District 100 tournament. They’re set to play the winner of Monday night’s clash between Rock Mid Peninsula (4-14) and Hannahville Nah Tah (11-9) on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in the District 99 bracket, Forest Park will challenge Norway (15-6) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a semi-final matchup at Norway High School.

— Reports compiled by Daily News sports editor Dennis Mansfield.