Free State senior Kris Wilson meets the Shawnee Heights defense under the basket Friday during the Firebirds' 65-43 loss.

FSHS senior Weston Wiebe, left, battles Shawnee Heights High School senior Nick Gardner on Friday, Dec. 7, 2007 during the Fourth Annual Bonner Springs Metro Prep Classic.

Bonner Springs ? Just two games into its season, Free State High’s boys basketball team learned what a little experience can do for a team’s effectiveness.

Unfortunately for the Firebirds, they learned that lesson the hard way at the Bonner Springs Metro Prep Classic in a 65-43 loss to a seasoned Shawnee Heights team.

The T-Birds hit their first seven shots and proved to be efficient throughout, missing just 12 of their 34 field-goal attempts. SHHS forward Nick Gardner scored 10 points in the paint in the first quarter and finished with 15.

“He was just big, and we weren’t doing a very good job of helping,” FSHS forward Weston Wiebe said. “We were in the wrong spots, and we let him get some easy layups.”

FSHS coach Chuck Law said that wasn’t the only problem.

“They’re a difficult team to match up with,” Law said. “Their perimeters handled pressure really well, and their big guys did good stuff around the basket. They were just a difficult team for us to guard.”

The T-Birds dressed six seniors and their experience showed.

“They’re an experienced team. They’ve got five returning starters,” Wiebe said. “They’re obviously a little bit further ahead than we are just as far as playing with each other and working together to win a game.”

The Firebirds (1-1) were led by Wiebe, who made six of his 10 shots and finished with a team-high 15 points. He got six of those points in the third quarter on inbound plays.

“Weston is a very good player and very savvy on inbound plays in particular, getting easy baskets for himself,” Law said.

Wiebe credited his teammates for finding him.

“I had the easy part, just making the layups,” he said.

Wiebe was the only Firebird to reach double figures in scoring. Kris Wilson had nine and Craig Rosenstengle finished with eight, but the next highest scoring output came from Connor Monarez, who had five. Wilson did a solid job of creating scoring opportunities, but went just 4-for-14 from the field.

“We’re going to go, largely, as Kris and Weston go. I don’t know that that’s any great surprise to anybody,” said Law, adding that Wilson’s foul trouble (he fouled out late in the fourth quarter) likely contributed to his struggles. “There are nights when he’s an incredibly difficult matchup for people, but tonight they weren’t falling.”

Wiebe said the Firebirds feel confident those shots will go down in the future.

“He usually does a good job. Some nights stuff doesn’t fall. It’s nothing against him,” Wiebe said.

In the meantime, the Firebirds need to find themselves on offense. Although they did a nice job of moving the ball around, they haven’t yet figured out where the shots are going to come from.

“We’re clearly struggling with what we’re going to do offensively,” Law said. “We’ve had difficulty with certain lineups figuring out how to score baskets.”

FSHS hit just two of nine 3-point attempts, which didn’t bode well for the team.

“We had difficulty making shots from the perimeter. When we have those nights we’re going to struggle offensively,” Law said, adding that he is confident the players will find themselves.

“I think we’re clearly still in a role-definition phase … eventually we’ll work our way through that.”

FSHS will play Bonner Springs this afternoon at 2:45 in the consolation bracket.