DURHAM — Nothing about Thursday’s second-round game went according to plan.

Northside wasn’t made aware Research Triangle played its games at an off-campus site. The Panthers arrived at Mt. Zion Christian Academy only to realize the gym had been double booked and tipoff would be delayed half an hour until 7:30 p.m.

Northside simply couldn’t find its rhythm once the game got going. Its 3-point shots weren’t falling, and its transition offense was out of synch. Still, head coach Mike Proctor isn’t going to make excuses about the 80-71 loss that ended its season.

“We had a great year. We didn’t play well, so it’s tough to end on this one,” he said. “It was a crazy night. I don’t know if they’re used to it or not, but we’re not used to it, so it was hard for us to get going. We sure couldn’t get into rhythm.

“You can look for excuses, but we didn’t play very well. We didn’t play with a lot of energy, I think, is the No. 1 thing.”

The hosting Raptors built a quick 6-0 lead thanks, in part, to an ice-breaking trey by junior Beau Bryant. Northside didn’t get on the board until Rashod Smith drew a shooting foul 2:17 into the game.

The Panthers looked for long-range chances early and often. They found open looks for Braeden Cooper in his preferred spot in the corner, but he couldn’t get them to drop. Jonathan Clark finally hit from behind the arc, and Smith followed with another perfect trip to the charity stripe.

It gave Northside a 9-8 lead with less than three minutes left in the opening period. It was short lived, though, as Bryant’s second trey of the quarter gave Research Triangle a lead it would never surrender.

“We wanted Braeden to shoot it because Braeden is a shooter. We wanted him to keep taking his shots,” Proctor said. “They just weren’t falling for him tonight.”

The Raptors opened the second with six unanswered points to take a 21-12 lead and prompt Proctor to call a timeout with 6:29 left in the half. It looked like the Panthers were finally hitting their stride with a Dawson Jackson layup sandwiched between 3s by Smith and Clark.

That put Northside within four, 27-23. It got as close as three down the stretch, but the Raptors wrapped up the second on a 7-0 surge to take a 38-28 lead into the locker room.

The Raptors weren’t any quicker than Northside expected. Their 1-3-1 defense, however, took away passing lanes and let them score on fast breaks.

“We knew they had a really good point guard and game planned for him specifically,” Raptors coach Ryan Griffin said. “We held them in check a little tonight. (Smith) still had 20, but I don’t think he felt as comfortable tonight. We knew that once we stopped him, we had to stop (Clark and Cooper).”

And that turned into an early 5-0 spurt to start the second half, extending Research Triangle’s advantage to 43-28. But, just when it looked like the game was slipping away, Cooper found his stroke. He knocked down a trey and converted another 3-point play to cut the deficit back down to eight.

Northside slowly started losing its firepower. Smith, Clark, Parker Boyd and Shikeem Carter all fouled out in the second half.

To the Panthers’ credit, the rag-tag group on the floor to finish the game kept the hope alive. Jackson’s hustle produced a steal-turned-layup that made it 70-61 with just under three minutes to play. Northside wouldn’t come any closer than nine, though.

Northside will graduate seven seniors from this squad. Three of them — Cooper, Boyd and Bryson Radcliffe — were regular starters all season. Two key components in Smith and Clark will return.