The Fruitport boys basketball team made another incredible comeback attempt on Friday night, and once again it fell just short.

After nearly coming back from a nine-point deficit with just over a minute left on Tuesday, the Trojans were even more impressive, rallying from a 17-point deficit in the final two minutes and pulling within two points, only to come up short 63-58 against Hamilton in O-K Blue conference action.

Even more amazingly, the comeback occurred with three starters out of the game with five fouls and one absent due to illness.

“I am proud of this group for fighting back late in the game and almost completing a pretty amazing comeback,” said Fruitport Coach Steve Erny, “For us to cut the lead all the way down to two points near the end shows something about our team.

“Everyone made important contributions in this game, and although we finished short-handed, the guys demonstrated the kind of grit and resolve I like to see. This will serve us well as we continue to figure some things out and grow.”

The game was pretty close in the first half, with Hamilton leading 19-16 after one quarter and 33-27 at halftime.

The Hawkeyes outscored the Trojans 14-8 in the third quarter to take a 47-35 lead, then extended it out to 17 points late in the final quarter.

The loss was the seventh straight for the Trojans, who dropped to 4-9 overall and 0-6 in conference play. Hamilton improved to 7-6 and 4-3.

DayDay Williams led the Trojans with 17 points, Ryan Bosch added 16 and Hudson Hazekamp had 11.