Wednesday may have been a bummer for the city high school boys basketball teams, but the sun came up Thursday morning.

“And however many people live in China don’t care that we lost,” Free State High coach Jack Schreiner good-naturedly said.

Free State, the No. 1 seed in the Class 6A state tournament, bowed to No. 8 seed Shawnee Mission West, 42-39, at Emporia’s White Auditorium. Later Wednesday, Wichita East thumped Lawrence High, 91-66.

At least the Lions and Firebirds could take solace in their All-Sunflower League honors. The official announcement of the team won’t be made until Monday, but four Firebirds and four Lions were selected.

Free State’s Brady Morningstar and Sam Buhler, and Lawrence High’s Tony Anderson and Brennan Bechard were named to the 15-member first team. The Lions’ Kristian Pope and David Freeman, and the Firebirds’ Matt Green and Danny Pike earned honorable-mention status. There is no second team.

Morningstar was selected the Sunflower League player of the year.

“Brady just made everybody who played around him better,” Schreiner said of the 6-foot-3 senior who averaged 18 points a game and is regarded as a mid-major Division One prospect.

Schreiner was tapped league coach of the year.

“It was pretty much unanimous,” Lawrence High coach Chris Davis said of the coach-of-the-year voting. “Jack did a great job with his team.”

6Sports video: Second half domination led to LHS loss

Free State compiled a 19-4 record, the best in the school’s eight-year history, and the Firebirds did it without size — Morningstar was the tallest starter — without much speed and with a thin bench.

The FSHS players didn’t impress anybody during warmups, but they played well together and they oozed intangibles. Buhler, a 6-1 senior, averaged only eight points a game but was the curator of the style.

“Sam may have been one of the best leaders I’ve ever coached,” Schreiner said.

Free State made only 32.6 percent of its shots (14-of-43), and the Firebirds shot almost 47 percent during the season.

Unlike Free State, the Lions (15-8) didn’t have a dominant player. Anderson, a 6-7 senior, was the leading scorer at 11.9 points a game, but Bechard, a 6-0 senior guard, averaged 11.2 ppg and Freeman 11.0.

Pope, a 5-9 junior and the only city underclassman honored by league coaches, averaged 4.5 points a game and also was a defensive standout.