Even in defeat, the words made sense.

"We've all grown up," said senior forward John Winters of the Antelope High School boys basketball team.

So has the new school with its first senior class.

Even though the Titans fell 61-50 to a taller and a little more physical St. Mary's of Stockton in Saturday night's Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship game at Power Balance Pavilion, the Titans have arrived.

"Last year we had no seniors, no leadership," Winters said of a Titans team that finished 9-18. "Now we have that. We believe in ourselves. We kept thinking we were going to make it here when no one thought we would. We've proved everybody wrong."

They did Tuesday at Power Balance by beating top-seeded and defending champion Woodcreek 62-61 on junior Jarvis Watkins' game-winning basket. It was a remarkable achievement, given the setting, the opponent and the Titans' 11-0 deficit.

But Antelope couldn't duplicate that magic against the formidable St. Mary's duo of 6-foot-10 senior post Chris Magalotti and powerful 6-4 senior forward Alex Simmons.

They helped the seventh-seeded Rams (21-10) catch fire in the postseason to upend No. 2 Fairfield, No. 3 Cordova and, finally, the No. 4 Titans (25-6).

"To knock off the two, three and four seeds, you know you are playing well," said Antelope coach Rob Richards. "We definitely had matchup issues. We had problems on the boards."

Simmons had a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds and Magalotti, only in his third season of organized basketball, added 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Rams to the school's eighth section boys basketball title.

"Magalotti is pretty tall – he's strong too," said Winters, the team's tallest starter with sophomore Isaiah Ellis at 6-4. "It's pretty hard to box him out. It was the big difference in the game. It's hard when someone is seven inches taller than you."

Still, despite that, Antelope, fueled once again by its mammoth Red Zone rooting section – perhaps the most impressive of all the schools that played at Power Balance Pavilion – had its opportunities.

The Titans closed to within 43-42 on Devin Campbell's three-pointer with 6:30 to play before watching the Rams pull away.

"The guys are a little down right now, but they don't realize the enormity of what they have accomplished," Richards said. "They have had a remarkable season."

One that isn't over.

St. Mary's and Antelope advance to the CIF Northern California Regionals. Matchups will be announced today.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.

• Read more articles by Bill Paterson