PINEHURST - For one day, on the most important of days, Green Hope's boys golf team wasn't its nearly flawless self. There would be no third straight state title.

The Falcons let an eight-stroke lead slip away on the second and final day of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A championship Tuesday, and one-by-one they shot their worst rounds of the season, falling to a third-place finish (596) behind Southern Pines Pinecrest (586) and Charlotte Providence (592) at Pinehurst No. 6.

Pinecrest was led by medalist Jack Fields, who shot a 67 Tuesday after a 71 on Monday.

On Monday, Green Hope shot only three strokes over par at 287 (the team's best four scores) and seemed poised to win its third consecutive state title. But Tuesday the Falcons shot a 15-over 309.

"We played bad at the wrong time," coach Dave Allen said. "You can't play perfect golf. We lost our poise in a few places."

But Green Hope, until Tuesday, had played perfect golf, having gone undefeated all season and into the playoffs.

Green Hope senior Michael Marshburn finished in fifth place overall, with a 36-hole total of 147.

Allen said his team struggled on Monday on the back nine.

He especially lamented No. 13, where he watched three of his golfers hit for par and the other three shoot a combined nine strokes over par on the 186-yard 3-par hole, situated precariously about 20 yards to the right of a water hazard, 10 yards to the left of the boundary and 15 yards in front of the boundary.

"That really killed us," said Falcons sophomore Michael Cromie, who triple-bogeyed the hole.

Senior Ben Kohles quadruple-bogeyed the hole, though he shot 1-under on the front nine.

And the Falcons never were able to dig themselves out of that hole, which they passed early in the day because they started on the back nine.

"We hunted too many holes that we shouldn't have been hunting," said Allen, who winced as the scorekeeper wrote the team's second-round score with a marker. "We tried to force it."

Though the back nine was the site of Green Hope's undoing on Tuesday, it also was where the team took a lead on Monday with a couple of eagles.

"We caught magic," Allen said of the first day.

To put things in perspective, a bad day for Green Hope still meant that the top four Falcons golfers still finished in the top 12. And all six finished with scores under 80 on the final day.

Behind Marshburn was Cromie's 149, Will Almand's 149, Kohles' 151, Brooks Beanland's 154 and Marcus Lindroos' 157.

Northern Durham finished in eighth place in its first state tournament appearance in more than 10 years.

"We're better than what we played," Knights coach Kevin Wicker said. "It's a stepping stone."

Northern Durham was led by Dalton Rich, who shot a 77 and a 76 for a two-round total of 153.

Holly Springs, led by Thomas Bass' two-day score of 158, finished in 12th place.

Individually, Durham Riverside's Jack Garret finished tied for eighth place overall at 149.

Middle Creek's Jake Colley shared 14th place at 152.