The mojo took a deep six on the Marian boys’ basketball team on Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the PIAA Class 2A tournament.

No more magical run for this band of Colts.

After a pair of huge upsets to open the District 11 tournament, Marian couldn’t come up with another one against Sankofa Freedom Academy, the District 1 runnerups.

The Kensington-based Warriors used its quickness and up-tempo style to defeat Marian, 65-54.

There was no secret potion for the Warriors (13-13), Marian’s coach Scott Muphy knew the visitors game plan.

“It was abundantly clear on film what they were trying to do,” Murphy said. “Getting them to slow down, being able to get into your half-court stuff, that’s the stuff you want to do. But they do a great job of pressuring the ball.”

And transitioning into the speed game.

“We saw on film how they play,” said Sankofa head coach Isaiah Thomas - a Philadelphia City Councilman when he’s not coaching. “We wanted our guards to set things up and speed up the game.”

Playing in the vaunted Philadelphia Public League sharpens that style, and Sanaka proved that.

To the Colts’ credit, they were not humbled early as they went toe-to-toe with the Warriors.

A 7-3 first-quarter run behind power forward Jesse Rodino - who scored 23 - had Marian down just 13-9 after one period.

“We knew their starters were pretty good,” Thomas said. “But we knew they weren’t very deep and hoped that attrition would come into play.”

While the Colts rely primarily on their starters, Sankofa went 10-deep and it kept running in players like a mad 5 p.m. rush hour in the city train.

That depth began to surface late in the second quarter. But Marian’s Julius Currie - who finished with 22 points - kept trying to rescue his team.

Eventually, the Warriors were able to open up some breathing room, however. Nasir Williams got it cooking with a trey, then had a steal for two more points before Kaden Stewart bombed home a triple and by halftime the Sanaka lead was 33-20.

“Our goal was to try and wear them down,” Thomas said.

That strategy became even more evident in the third quarter.

Behind the play of Nafise Dubose and Williams, Sanka stretched its lead to 52-33 after three quarters.

“We knew this was going to be a tough environment with the two-hour (bus) ride and all,” said Sanaka’s Asin Hardy - who his coach called the team’s general “We’ve got a lot of young kids, so I’m trying to guide them.”

There was still some energy left in Marian’s game as it strung together a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter behind five points from Currie.

But Sanaka responded with a spurt to seal the outcome.

“Credit to my guys. It’s a testament to our program and who we are,” Murphy said. We fight and we showed that in the fourth quarter when we battled and twice got the deficit down to 10 points.

BALANCED ... The Warriors were led by DuBose with 19 points, Williams with 17, and Hardy with 12.

NUMBERS … The Colts (15-11) went 19-for-45 from the field, and had the edge off the glass (38-29) with Jess Rodino collaring 11 and Bruce Hopeck seven. The Warriors went 24-for-53 from the field. Jasir Henderson pulled down seven rebounds. The Colts committed 18 turnovers while Sanaka had nine.

QUOTABLE … “They were like gnats buzzing around the ball , and we got enough bites to show it.” said Marian coach Murphy describing the Warriors’ defense.

ADIEU … Seven Marian seniors had their last bows - Nathaniel Rosario, AJ Thomas, the Rodino brothers, Jesse and James, Currie and Miller.

SANKOFA ACADEMY

Dubose 8-3-6-19, Williams 6-2-6-17, Hardy 2-8-10-12, Stewart 2-0-0-6, Henderson 2-0-0-4, J. Brown 1-2-4-4, Fortson 1-1-2-3, N. Brown. Benjamin 0-0-0-0, Seals 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-16-30-65.

MARIAN

Je Rodino 10-3-10-23, Currie 7-4-6-22, Miller 2-3-6-9, Ja. Rodino 0-0-2-0, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Tom 0-0-0-0, Hopeck 0-0-0-0, Ju. De La Cruz 0-0-0-0, Rosario 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-10-24-54.

Sankofa 13 20 19 13 – 65

Marian 9 11 13 21 – 54

Three-pointers: Sankofa - Williams 3, Stewart 2. Marian - Currie 4, Miller 2.