BARRE, Vt. — The Barre Auditorium locker room door had been shut for 15 postgame minutes Wednesday when the mustachioed attendant came to officially end the Hartford High boys basketball team’s stay in the venerated, 86-year old building.

Carefully peeling a sign off the metal door that announced the occupants’ school name, the gentleman then removed several duct tape rolls on the back side and shuffled down the hall and deeper into the arena’s brick bowels.

The Hurricanes’ wait for their first state title since 1929 continues following their 51-48 loss to Harwood in the VPA Division II semifinals.

“We didn’t play one of our better games tonight,” said Hartford coach Mike Gaudette, whose team featured no seniors and which returned three players and one starter from last year’s squad that reached the division title game. “I think our youth showed for one of the first times this season.”

Hartford enjoyed momentum with five minutes remaining after it forced turnovers on three consecutive Harwood possessions and turned them into six points and a 43-39 lead.

However, the Highlanders then went on a 10-2 run while Hartford missed its final three field-goal attempts, the last being Kyle Fotion’s 3-point try that rattled out with 15 seconds to play. Harwood’s Teighen Fils-Aime missed a pair of free throws with six seconds on the clock, but a teammate rebounded his second miss to deny the Hurricanes a last-ditch chance.

“They were stronger than us,” Gaudette said somberly, adding that his players will need to focus on weight-room work during the next nine months. “We gave up too many second- and third-chance shots tonight. We didn’t rebound well, and we knew that we had to.”

Hartford also missed eight free throws and couldn’t capitalize fully on forcing Harwood into 17 turnovers. The Hurricanes, who played without sick sixth man Joey Gardner, committed eight turnovers and took some wild, off-balance shots on ill-advised charges at the rim.

“We had poor shot selection tonight,” Gaudette said. “We got impatient, and it came back to bite us. That’s a maturity thing, and we’ll work on it this summer.”

Noah Danieli led Hartford with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor. Noah Jenks had 11 points, Rex Baning had 10 points and Fotion had eight points for the Hurricanes (19-4), who made two of nine 3-point attempts. Steele Nelson led Harwood (20-3) with 14 points.

“I don’t think anyone saw this coming,” Gaudette said of his team’s second consecutive appearance at the Aud, following trips in 1958 and 1984. “But we didn’t have that one guy who could score for us. When the going got tough, we kind of just looked at each other.

“The game got tight and the crowd got loud and we got nervous in the last few minutes.”

Hartford led, 15-11, after a quarter and the game was tied, 25-25, at halftime. The Hurricanes fell behind, 37-32, with a minute remaining in the third quarter, the biggest second-half deficit either team faced all night.

“Harwood’s guys all seemed to be (6-foot-2) and they’re strong,” Gaudette said, noting that Ryan Murphy, Hartford’s 6-2 starter in the post, picked up his third foul midway through the third quarter and saw limited minutes the rest of the way.

The coach described the last shot by Fotion as a good look, noting that Danieli correctly dished the ball further down the 3-point arc when two Highlanders jumped out to pressure him.

“We played hard all night and we had a great year, even if we’re not happy with tonight’s result,” Gaudette said.

Notes: The national anthem was sung by Hartford students Flynn Moreno and Zoe Zanleoni, members of the girls hockey team. … Harwood features eight seniors. … Top-seeded Montpelier (22-1), in search of its fifth consecutive division title, swamped fourth-seeded Otter Valley, 89-56, in Wednesday’s other semifinal. The Solons’ only loss was to Burlington, the top seed in the Division I tournament. … No music was played during warmups. “This is the best soundtrack ever — just sneaker squeaks,” said one press box occupant. … Upper Valley resident Larry Ruffing was one of the game’s three referees. … Hurricanes assistant coach Dylan Spencer, who also coaches the White River Junction Post 84 baseball team, successfully proposed to his fiancee, Mikala Wentworth, earlier this week. … Also on the local basketball blotter: Former Lebanon player Calvin Bates recently concluded the season as a student manager for the Connecticut College Camels, who were 13-12.

Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.