'It was almost fitting that the Brookline boy's basketball playoff hopes were dashed yesterday when the team submitted a 10-point first half and a 35-point second half that proved not to be enough.

The 2010-2011 Warriors were overpowering at times and struggled with slow starts and turnovers at others in a season marked by inconsistent play and all qualities were evident during a 50-45 loss to Boston Latin (11-10) that eliminated Brookline from the MIAA state tournament.

Brookline took a quick 6-3 lead in the first quarter but Boston Latin went on an 8-0 run heading into the second quarter. While Latin wasn’t lighting up the gym offensively, it was able to take advantage of the Warrior turnovers and play an efficient first half while taking a 26-10 lead. In a game that it needed to win, Brookline committed 22 turnovers and only shot 16 free throws to the Wolfpack’s 34 attempts from the charity stripe.

“Committing 22 turnovers and getting off to the slow start is the story of our season,” Brookline head coach Mark Fiedor said. “It came down to ball care and poor decisions. I expected more and was disappointed with the way we came out.”

The Warriors first-half issues stemmed from their inability to make open shots and not staying with their man on defense when the Wolfpack would penetrate, which left Latin open for four three-point shots made in the first half.

Despite still having shooting problems, Brookline turned up its defense in the third quarter to close the Boston Latin lead to 34-23. A combination of Boston Latin not being as aggressive and Brookline starting to make shots led to a great finish in the fourth quarter. When the Warriors were furiously trying to trim the Boston Latin lead, their turnover issues popped up again.

“After we had our worst half of basketball all year, I told them to go out, be yourselves and have fun playing the game,” Fiedor said.

After Stephen O’Neal (12 points) converted a three-point play, the score was 44-38 and Brookline had a chance to cut the lead to four with 2:15 remaining but twice threw the ball away. The Warriors’ best chance came when E.J. Rogers (17 points) hit a three-pointer with 35.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to 46-43 and his free throws with 20.7 brought Brookline to within 47-45. But the Wolfpack’s James Adams (12 points) hit a pair of free throws with 18.9 seconds left to make it a 49-45 game and Jack Duggan (14 points) hit a free throw to seal the 50-45 win.

“Brookline started to play better in the second half and we lost our intensity because we were just waiting for time to run out,” Boston Latin head coach Brendan Smith said. “We leaned on Jack [Duggan] and the rest of the starting five to take us home.”

Rogers was named to the first team of the Bay State all-star squad, a selection that Fiedor said his guard worked hard for.

“He deserved it and become more team-oriented as the season has gone along,” Fiedor said.

With the win, Boston Latin qualified for the MIAA state tournament and will finish its regular season against Latin Academy at 3 p.m. today. Brookline will close out its season today at 1 p.m. against Boston English.

“We’re looking to close out the season with a positive taste in our mouths,” Fiedor said.