In this game of survivor, the Generals were just another favorite unceremoniously voted off the Class I island.

On Wednesday, March 5, the third-seeded John Stark boys basketball team faced No. 10 Monadnock, a foe it had beaten by 24 points earlier in the season. Yet in the state semifinals, not even the senior alliance of Ben Titcomb, Gavin Sappier, Shane Arsenault and Zach Morrill-Winter could ensure immunity.

Three nights after the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds fell, Stark’s flame was extinguished, 45- 42, inside Lundholm Gymnasium on the University of New Hampshire’s campus.

JS coach Mike Smith said the Generals, who held the Huskies under 50 points, did their job on defense.

Offensively, they were consistently inconsistent, shooting 22 percent from the field, and Smith said they never really found a rhythm.

“They have some big inside presences that turned us into a perimeter shooting team,” said the coach. “Normally, we’re a little better (shooting from the perimeter), but the fact they made us one dimensional, obviously, I think hurt us.”

Even when the Generals did attack the basket, the ball was often kicked back to the outside at the last second.

“That’s what size will do... I think part of the reason we missed so many shots on the inside is because we weren’t focused on the basket, we were more worried about getting our shots blocked,” said Smith. “The frustrating part is it’s too late in the season to be worrying about that. The times we did drive in hard I thought good things happened … but I think guys started to press a little bit against the zone, and then it was kind of like everyone was hoping someone else would take the drive or make the shots.”

Arsenault, with 12 points, led the Generals in scoring while contributing seven rebounds. Morrill-Winter, with 11 points, was the only other General to score in double figures. Titcomb added eight points and nine rebounds.

Though Smith admits the current window of championship opportunity has likely closed, he remains optimistic about the program’s future.

“This was as good a shot as we’ve had to win the state title. I mean, even the ’04 team, which was the last time we (made the finals), we were playing against Souhegan, and they were a much better team than we were. I think if we play a best-of-five series against Monadnock, we win three out of five games, but we don’t play best-of-five series, and that’s what makes high school basketball so exciting. You’ve got to play for that one game, and tonight (Monadnock) did the things they needed to beat us,” said Smith. “We’ll be back, I don’t have any doubts about that.”