New London — Jere Quinn spent the summer year in a wheelchair, not 100 percent certain he would be able to spend his 42nd season doing the thing he loved most: coaching basketball at St. Thomas More.

Six months and 41 games later — and still recovering from the effects of Guillain-Barre syndrome — the journey for Quinn and his players came to an end on Wednesday afternoon with a 91-71 loss to Brewster Academy in National Prep School Championship tournament quarterfinals at Connecticut College's Luce Field House.

And it was Quinn, not his players, who was feeling admiration.

"What a wonderful season it was for these kids to get 31 wins," he said. "And honestly, they took a gamble on me because the summer was so crazy. When we started the year, I was using a walker, then went to a cane and then to braces ... now it's just a funny walk.

"But they were wonderful to coach. The season these kids gave me is certainly a lifetime memory ... and I intend to have a very long life after this. I want to thank them, and I want to thank the coaching staff. They gave tremendous effort."

St. Thomas More doesn't feature a player from a Power 5 conference on its roster yet led Brewster, which will send players to Kentucky, Syracuse, Maryland, Minnesota and Boston College next season, 40-38 at halftime.

Quinn, however, was still concerned.

"Twice we played these guys in the last five days (Brewster won 100-85 in the New England Class AAA semifinals last Saturday) and both times it was a game at halftime," he said. "But we were siting at halftime and it just looked like we were drained."

And Quinn was right. He called a timeout just 26 seconds into the second half after a steal and emphatic dunk by 6-foot-6 Syracuse-bound Kadary Richmond tied the game.

The Chancellors, who finish 31-10 (four losses to Brewster), hung around for the next few minutes and trailed by only one, 49-48, when the game took a seismic shift courtesy of a 6-7 guard Terrence Clarke, who is off to Kentucky next season. He hit four consecutive free throws that started a 16-5 run (he accounted for 11 of those points) as Brewster opened a 65-54 lead and T-More couldn't recover.

"They've got thoroughbreds," Quinn said. "Their strength and length hurt us on both the offensive and defensive end. They were just too athletic for us. Physically they outmatched us at every spot, but our kids never quit. We just got beat."

Clarke finished with 26 points to lead Brewster, which will play Hargrave Military (Va.) in Thursday's semifinals at 11 a.m., while Jared Garcia (UNC Charlotte signee) scored 13 points, Derrius Ward 12 and Chris Manon (Cornell) 11 for T-More.

"My intentions are to coach again," Quinn said. "I just told the kids, 'Now the work begins. You have to live in the weight room' while I get five or six kids into schools that fit their needs. All our kids will end up in a college program next year that are going to be great academic and athletic institutions."

c.banning@theday.com