Mt. Hermon’s Yellow Jackets’ season concluded Friday night with a 59-52 setback to Doyle on the road in the opening round of the Class 2A state playoffs.

The Yellow Jackets led, 30-21, at halftime, and 43-40 after three but Doyle outscored Mt. Hermon, 19-9, to capture the seven-point victory.

“We were able to play them in a zone in the first half. Nothing changed in the second half except that they began hitting shots,” Mt. Hermon coach B. Alford said. “There was no change in effort. We just didn’t hit shots. We lost our last two games against Archbishop Hannan and Doyle. I feel like we were right there with those teams. Our outside game was good this year but we struggled inside. That was our weakness, our inside game, and it’s something we need to improve on before next season.”

The loss to Archbishop Hannan was a tiebreaker for the District 8-2A title.

Mt. Hermon lost that game, 55-53, after the Hawks hit a shot with three seconds left to play in the fourth quarter.

Jessie Pouncey scored 21 points to lead Mt. Hermon in scoring during Friday’s postseason contest.

Corterio Williams recorded 16 points while Gerald Bunch had eight.

Joseph McGee added four and George Smith tallied three.

The Yellow Jackets’ 2014-15 squad had three seniors, including Pouncey, Williams and Devin Smith.

“Jessie is just a very gifted shooter,” Alford said. “Corterio Williams may have the quickest first step to the goal of any kid I’ve ever had. Devin came in and had never played before. He helped us on the inside defensively and made practices a lot more competitive.”

Mt. Hermon, the 20th-seeded team, finishes the year with a 14-8 record.

No. 13 Doyle advances to the regional and faced fourth-seeded Welsh last night. The winner moves to the quarterfinals and takes on either fifth-seeded North Caddo or No. 21 St. James.

St. James was victorious over 12th-seeded Catholic of New Iberia, 67-61.