Free State's Auston Jacobsen, center, battles for a loose ball between Bonner Springs' Brien Newton, left, and Martin Birch, right. Free State rolled, 72-50, Saturday in Bonner Springs.

Bonner Springs ? As funny as it sounds, most coaches will tell you it’s better to take fifth at a tournament than fourth.

That’s because taking fifth means a team picked up two victories.

Free State’s boys and girls basketball teams will get a chance to do just that Wednesday in the final round of the Bonner Springs Metro Prep Classic thanks to a pair of bounceback victories Saturday afternoon.

After struggling to score all night in the opening round Friday, the Free State boys exploded for 72 points in a 72-50 runaway victory over host team Bonner Springs.

Senior Kris Wilson paced the Firebirds (2-1) with 20 points, while Weston Wiebe added 13, and Auston Jacobsen chipped in 14.

“It was easier for us to score today because we got out in transition,” FSHS coach Chuck Law said. “For two years we’ve preached penetrate and find your teammates with (Wilson). We don’t want to deviate from that too much, but we do need him to score some this year for us, as well.”

Wilson seems to have received the memo. After missing 10 of 14 shots in the opening-round loss to Shawnee Heights, Wilson responded Saturday with an 8-of-13 shooting performance. Perhaps more importantly, the senior guard added six assists to his stat line in leading the Firebirds to victory.

“I just have to be patient and pick my spots,” Wilson said. “Everyone came out focused, we pushed the ball more today, and I think more running really helped us out.”

Free State led just 17-11 after one quarter and 36-24 at the half. A 20-9 advantage in the third quarter pushed the margin to 23 points after three, and the Firebirds cruised from there.

In all, the Firebirds dished 18 assists while shooting just one 3-pointer and countless layups.

“Any coach will tell you when a team shares the basketball, it leads to success,” Law said. “Any time you lose the first game at a tournament, the goal is all about coming back and getting two wins. That was just the comeback game we needed.”

Free State will take on Lansing in the fifth-place game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Free State girls (2-1) also will play for fifth place Wednesday, the reward of a fourth quarter in which the Firebirds outscored Topeka Seaman 17-5 en route to a 44-28, second-round victory Saturday afternoon.

Senior guard Sarah Craft (13 points) led the Firebirds’ attack, while Chantay Caron added 10, and Ashleigh Allam finished with 8.

Although the teams were separated by just two points at halftime, the Firebirds controlled the pace of the game. Six-foot-5 sophomore Ashli Hill influenced everything in the lane and dictated where Seaman’s shots came from throughout the night.

“Ashli Hill played the way we need her to play tonight,” FSHS coach Bryan Duncan said. “We really challenged her to bring a better effort today, and she had a nose for the ball all game and really controlled the paint.”

Hill finished with seven points.

The Free State girls team’s fourth trip to the Bonner Springs event hasn’t been nearly as kind as the first three. After playing in the tournament’s championship game for three straight years – winning the title in 2005 – the Firebirds entered Saturday struggling to make sense of their spot in the consolation bracket. Rather than dwelling on the double-overtime loss to Shawnee Heights in the opening round, Duncan challenged his team to respond. For the most part, he liked what he saw.

“We want to win every game,” Duncan said. “Who doesn’t? We came over here to win the tournament, and instead we were stuck playing in the sunshine bracket. The bottom line is we learned again how to deal with adversity. Playing in front of 10 people, that’s adversity in itself.”

Like Law, Duncan was pleased with the victory in the bounceback game.

“We’re starting to see what we need to see,” he said. “We like the pieces we have, we just need to fit them together.”

The Free State girls will face Savannah for fifth at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.