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Emporia — The Firebirds were stampeded by the Golden Buffaloes.

Free State High's boys basketball team was leading by two points heading into the second quarter of Wednesday's night's Class 6A state quarterfinal game before being blitzed by Wichita Southeast en route a 73-54 defeat at White Auditorium.

Free State's Pat Krivoshia, center, fights for a rebound with Wichita Southeast's Jason Cornwell, left, and Rone Smith. The Golden Buffaloes defeated the Firebirds on Wednesday at Emporia in the Class 6A state tournament.

"We thought if we came out strong like that, we had a good chance," said FSHS senior forward Pat Krivoshia, who scored 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting. "We had a great start to the game and we were up going into the second quarter. Then we let it get away. They came out, they played solid, played tough, pressured us and we didn't handle the pressure as well as we would have liked."

The Firebirds (11-12) led 17-13 following a free-throw by sophomore guard Neil Dougherty with 1:20 to play in the first quarter. But the Buffaloes went on a 15-0 run and outscored Free State 19-4 in the decisive second quarter.

"The first quarter was great," said FSHS senior guard Morgan Minnis, who had 10 points and was 2-of-4 shooting on three-pointers in his final game. "We came out strong, weren't intimidated at all, which we shouldn't have been. We played a great first quarter I think we were up two points and I don't know what happened in the second quarter."

The short version of what happened is turnovers and shooting.

Southeast's swarming defense forced the Firebirds to commit five of their 21 turnovers in the second quarter. But, perhaps more importantly, Free State didn't hit a shot from the floor zero, zip, zilch while going 0-for-11. The Firebirds' four points, which all came from the free-throw line, were their least in a quarter since the second game of the season.

"We played a heck of a second half," Southeast coach Carl Taylor said. "We turned up the defense in the first quarter. We weren't running our defense. We were a step behind. They (the Firebirds) had some open shots and they hit some three-pointers.

"I told them, 'if you don't guard this team, they'll beat you.'"

Free State High's Keith Wooden (54) is pressured by Wichita Southeast's Rone Smith in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament. The Firebirds lost, 73-54, on Wednesday.

And guard them they did. The Firebirds knew what they were getting into as far as full-court pressure. But what Free State didn't expect was Southeast's effectiveness in the half-court game.

"You can't simulate that quickness in practice," FSHS coach Jack Schreiner said. "I thought we did a pretty good job with the pressure in the full court, it was half court. I thought we would do a better job in the half-court offense than we did. I'm going to give them all the credit. They really took us out of our half-court offense."

The Buffaloes baffled the Firebirds down low, double- and even triple-teaming Free State's big men when they got the ball. Although, FSHS sophomore center Keith Wooden scored a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, all 17 points came in the second half. Wooden, who also had a team-high six rebounds, scored 12 straight points for the Firebirds during a 3-minute, 26-second span late in the fourth quarter.

"I said, 'If we could have got you to play like you did in the last 4-5 minutes, in the first 10 minutes, who knows what happens,'" Schreiner said. "But, they're kids. Keith had a good season. Hopefully next year he comes back 30 pounds heavier and much stronger and maybe we advance."

Instead, Southeast advanced and has to be considered a contender for the state title.

The Buffaloes, who had 10 different players score, were led by senior Rone Smith's 28 points on 11-of-11 shooting. As a team, Southeast shot 56.9 percent from the floor (29-of-51) while holding Free State to 37.3 percent (19-of-51). Although the numbers said the Firebirds enjoyed a 27-24 advantage on the boards, the players said different.

"They're a really athletic team and they're big," Krivoshia said. "They definitely had a lot more height than we did. They pressured us up and down the floor and that really got to us in the second quarter, I think."

Southeast (20-3), who will face Shawnee Mission Northwest in Friday's semifinal game, led by as many as 20 in the second half.

"If you've never seen us play," Taylor said of the second-half surge, "That's how we play all the time."

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