As time ticked down during the closing seconds of the third quarter in the Free State boys basketball team’s Class 6A sub-state semifinal matchup against Hutchinson on Wednesday at FSHS, Firebird senior Simon McCaffrey had the ball in his hands as the home team looked to take the last shot of the period.

McCaffrey had the hot hand — having already made three 3-pointers in the third — and the Salthawks did everything in their power to make sure he wouldn’t get a clean look at another. It didn’t matter, though. McCaffrey heaved up a fadeaway jumper from well beyond the arc and got a shooter’s roll to beat the buzzer. The Free State senior scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the third quarter to power the Firebirds to a 62-31 victory.

“I don’t know how it went in,” McCaffrey said with a smile. “It just felt good, I guess.”

With senior Garrett Luinstra playing at less than 100 percent while overcoming an illness and senior Zach McDermott sidelined with an ankle injury, Free State coach Sam Stroh needed a few players to step up their games. McCaffrey answered his coach’s call, as he led a balanced offensive effort.

“Simon has done a great job this year buying into his role, but tonight we needed him to be a scorer. A lot of times we put him on the best ball-handler or the best offensive shooter, but we needed his offense tonight and he got it going,” Stroh said. “Not only on the outside, but on the inside he did a great job. But also defending his guy, I don’t think his guy scored much at all.”

Seniors Bansi King (13 points) and Reece White-Downing (11) did most of the heavy-lifting in the first half to help Free State to a 10-point lead going into the break. The Firebirds (16-5) hit their first five shots from the field. McCaffrey nailed one from downtown for the Firebirds’ first points, and King kept them rolling with back-to-back treys. White-Downing then went into attack mode — getting to the rack for two layups.

It wasn’t just some of the usual suspects who were picking up the slack offensively either. Sophomore DK Middleton came off the bench to provide the Firebirds a spark with seven points.

“We knew DK could step up. He had a good game,” McCaffrey said. “He does that all the time in practice, so it was cool to see him do it in a game, too.”

Any hope that the Salthawks had of making a comeback was quickly dashed by an 11-0 Free State run to open the fourth quarter. The Firebirds held Hutchinson to two points in the fourth.

After the win over Hutchinson (4-16), the Firebirds will play at home again at 6 p.m. Saturday against Wichita North (10-11) with a spot at the state tournament up for grabs. Stroh is optimistic about his team being closer to or at full strength on Saturday.

“Zach’s still nursing an ankle. I think we probably could have played Zach tonight if it was an emergency situation,” Stroh said. “He’s doing a good job with rehab, but we need to get him at full speed and ready for Saturday.”

Wichita North went on the road for a comeback win over Manhattan on Wednesday. North trailed by 15 points in the third quarter before battling back for a 60-57 victory.

“That just tells us that we need to play hard and work hard in practice to get ready for them because we’re trying to go to state,” McCaffrey said.

HUTCHINSON (31)

TreVaughn Jones 4-6 3-5 13, Jacob Cole 3-4 0-0 7, Max Ontjes 0-2 0-0 0, Eastin Heneha 0-1 0-0 0, Tate Webster 1-3 2-5 4, Garrett Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Elisha Turner 3-9 1-2 7, Joe Blake 0-0 0-0 0, Weston Kraus 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-28 6-12 31.

FREE STATE (62)

Jared Hicks 0-1 0-0 0, Garrett Luinstra 0-6 0-0 0, Simon McCaffrey 7-9 0-0 19, Reece White-Downing 5-7 1-1 11, Bansi King 0-0 0-0 13, Noah Butler 1-3 3-6 5, Jalan Robinson 3-7 1-1 7, DK Middleton 2-2 3-4 7, Ethan Lincoln 0-1 0-0 0, Turner Corcoran 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Piper 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-37 8-12 62.

Hutchinson 11 8 10 2 — 31

Free State 17 12 20 13 — 62

3-point goals: Hutchinson 3-11 (Jones 2, Cole); Free State 6-12 (McCaffrey 5). Fouled out: None. Turnovers: Hutchinson 13, Free State 4.