South Mountain’s season came to an end Wednesday, and it wasn’t close. The Jaguars were outhustled, outbodied and outscored — and the scoreboard showed that.

But coach Jermey Soria hopes his team learned a lesson from the 66-39 rout by Apollo in the first round of the 5A playoffs.

“I just hope they grow from it,” Soria said. “I want to see them grow and get better and learn from this.

“They need to learn that they can play with anybody in the state when they lock into the game plan and focus on what needs to be focused on.”

The Jaguars played a sound first half, trailing 36-28 to the No. 2 team in 5A at the break.

Soon after, however, the game slipped away.

In the third quarter, the Hawks outscored South Mountain 25-3. “Our guys just forgot the game plan,”  Soria said. “We allowed the pressure to bother us and stop running what we had practiced.”

South Mountain made only one field goal in the entire third quarter — a Zay Freeney 3-pointer.

Much of South Mountain’s stagnant offense can be traced to Apollo’s full-court press. Though Soria’s group planned extensively for it, the Jaguars crossed  midcourt just a handful of times in the third quarter.

“We had a great game plan for it,” Soria said. “We couldn’t break that press there in the second half.”

Apollo’s leading scorer was senior Emmanuel Taban, one of Arizona’s top prospects.

A 6-foot-7 forward, Taban finished with 23 points — five above his season average of 18. Per 247Sports, Taban is the eighth-ranked recruit in Arizona and has offers from Texas Tech, Kansas State and Grand Canyon, among others.

While Taban was exceptional, Soria said his performance didn’t singlehandedly overpower South Mountain.

“He was long, but he didn’t really hurt us,” Soria said. “He’s a special player, but I don’t think he beats us by himself if we don’t turn it over in the frontcourt.”

Freeney finished with 11 points and was the only Jaguar in double figures. Behind him, Kyree Ware and DeOtis Nunn Jr. scored six apiece.

With the loss, the season is now over for South Mountain (13-5). The Jaguars have to wait a long nine months until they step on the hardwood again.

South Mountain graduates just two seniors: Amaure Jefferson and Kobe Johns. All of the Jaguars other 10 players are set to return for the 2019-20 season.

As the season ends, a new grind begins. Nunn — who will be a sophomore next year — plans to polish his game in the offseason.

“I’m only getting better,” Nunn said. “I am going to get bigger, faster and more explosive.”

Though the players all hope to improve over the offseason, Freeney is poised to lead his team again next year. Serving as co-captain, Freeney led the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game.

A year from now, his goal is to be on the other side of the scoreboard.

“I look forward to beating teams like that in the playoffs,” Freeney said. “We’re going to win state championships.”