With just under 30 seconds to go in Tuesday night’s playoff game, and the Spartans up 61-60, the Bainbridge High School band began to play “Don’t Stop Believing.”

The Spartans, heeding the tried-and-true advice as crooned by Steve Perry, did the band one better. Not only did they keep on believing, they kicked things into high gear and got back to winning.

The BHS varsity boys basketball team was met by a jubilant flood of family and friends cheering and celebrating their 63-60 victory, the first of the postseason.

Now, the journey will continue: the Spartans were scheduled to play Bishop Blanchet at Garfield High School the very next night in their second postseason outing.

In their first Metro playoff matchup this week, Cleveland scored first, but the lead was quickly usurped by Bainbridge, and the Spartans held a points advantage for much of the first quarter.

By the end of the half, however, the Eagles had managed a sneaky game of catch-up (including a clutch basket almost exactly at the buzzer) and the score stood 31-all.

By the game’s finale, things were again tied, despite some solid back-and-forth lead gains in the third and a Spartan advantage for much of the fourth.

It was, team officials said afterward, the last game this crop of BHS seniors will play at home, regardless of future postseason winnings.

The Spartan scoring machine was helmed by Ben Beatie, who was also the game’s leading points earner with a final night total of 22.

“We came out with a lot of energy and that was one of our biggest issues the last couple of games, we just came out flat,” the senior wing said after the game. “In the locker room at halftime, it was just a 0-0 mentality.”

Beatie said that he felt the team played their strongest in the later moments of the third quarter, and for most of the fourth.

“The first quarter was huge but then we kind of gave up a big run in the second quarter,” he said. “That was our biggest adjustment, just being stronger with the ball.”

Fellow Spartan senior Trent Schulte also finished the contest scoring in the double digits. He managed 11.

Blake Swanson scored nine points, Oskar Dieterich had seven and Dawson Gonwick earned six.

Spartan Head Coach Scott Orness said that he was incredibly proud of the team for maintaining its composure and focus throughout the trying game.

“Cleveland came out hard tonight,” Orness said. “That was playoff basketball, plain and simple. You could tell the stakes were high. Both teams were playing with an unbelievable amount of energy and effort and guts.”

The game was a particularly difficult one physically, Orness said, and both teams clearly wanted to win.

“It was real physical everywhere on the floor,” he said. “It was a physical game, lots of fouls being called. I thought the refs did a good job of keeping the fouls down.”

Close finales have historically not been the strong suit of this season’s Spartans, something Orness was quick to admit, but he also said that the final moments against Cleveland showed evidence of a much-matured team.

“The biggest part of that game for us was, we’ve lost a lot of close ones, and I think we’ve learned from them,” he explained. “I think our guys really responded tonight and made the right play at the end.”

“They were smart at the end, they were aggressive and they played to win instead of trying to hold on,” Orness added.

The win at home elevated the Spartans’ overall season record to 11-8 (6-8, in league play). They remain in the fifth-place spot in the Metro Mountain Division, ahead of O’Dea (8-12, overall).

“These guys are staying alive and will move on,” Orness said of the team’s immediate prospects. “These seniors gave everything they could in their last game on this floor. None of them have any regrets, I guarantee you. They left it all out there, and they’ll leave this place feeling pretty good about how they played at Bainbridge High School their last game.”