FSHS junior Marcus Spates, left, drives to the hoop against Lansing's Kevin Johnson on Wednesday during the Firebirds' 62-45 victory in the fifth-place game at the Metro Prep Classic in Bonner Springs.

FSHS senior Kris Wilson, left, blasts past Lansing High School's Clayton Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 during the Firebirds' 62-45 victory during the Metro Prep Classic in Bonner Springs.

Senior Auston Jacobsen (32) puts up a shot Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 during Free State High School's 62-45 victory against Lansing High School at the 4th Annual Bonner Springs Metro Prep Classic.

Bonner Springs ? Playing in the loser’s bracket of the Bonner Springs Metro Prep Classic didn’t slow down Free State High’s boys basketball team.

If anything, the Firebirds played with a little more pep after their first-round loss, as they won their second straight game Wednesday night against Lansing, 62-45, to take fifth place.

The Firebirds (3-1) never trailed and set the tone from jump street when senior Craig Rosenstengle scored a layup in transition for the game’s first hoop. That bucket, though, was the only one from a Firebird not named Kris Wilson or Weston Wiebe in the first half. Wilson scored 11 and Wiebe had 16 as FSHS took a 29-23 lead into halftime. The bulk of those points came in transition, just as they did in a 72-point outing Saturday, and coach Chuck Law said he hoped that trend would continue.

“It would sure be nice,” Law said. “We knew going in that trying to control tempo was going to be a key to the game. We saw them the first two times out play a lot of zone – not necessarily our forte.”

However, the zone didn’t give the Firebirds much trouble either as they routinely moved the ball around the perimeter before attacking the gaps and hitting a weakside cutter for points in the paint.

Wilson, who finished with 17 points, said FSHS simply executed.

“(Our) guards used their quickness and we’d just get by the first person that came up and just drop it to Weston or Craig and they finish,” the senior said.

Wiebe went 12-of-14 from the field and scored 25 (eight in each of the first three quarters and one in the fourth) and Rosenstengle was the third-leading scorer with six, hitting three of four shots.

“I thought Craig stepped in and did a good job. He knocked down open shots,” Wilson said.

Added Law, “I thought Craig was really good tonight. He’s going to have to be the third scorer for us in all likelihood.”

Law said that he would like to see more production from the rest of the roster in the future. Juniors Marcus Spates and Chase Hoag had five and four points apiece and the other Firebirds to enter the scoring column were Auston Jacobsen (three) and Connor Monarez (two).

“Some guys across the board need to step up and do a little better job playing their role for this team and make plays, especially on the offensive end,” Law said.

The FSHS defense, however, was solid. The Firebirds held the 4A Lions to 38 percent shooting and won by playing tough man-to-man defense. In limited minutes, Spates routinely hounded Lansing ball-handlers, and Rosenstengle, Wilson and Wiebe all created offense by stealing the ball and pushing it up the floor.

“We try to use our quickness to play defensively and try to get steals and we did a good job of that and got a lot of easy lay-ups,” Wiebe said.

Wilson, who looked faster than the opposition every time he pushed in transition, agreed that running the floor was the way to go.

“We can just get it and go and push it ahead and people like Weston are going to finish it,” he said. “We’ve got the type of players who can do that. We just all had energy tonight.”

Wiebe definitely had the most impressive finish of the night when he stole the ball in the backcourt midway through the third quarter and elevated for a two-handed jam to give his team a 38-28 lead and create some real separation between the Firebirds and Lions.

But the senior played down the importance of the dunk.

“I don’t know, it’s two points, it’s not that great,” he deadpanned.

Wilson respectfully disagreed.

“It gets me hyped,” he said. “It was crazy. I didn’t know if he was going to dunk it or not. As soon as he got up there he just raised above the rim and slammed it down.”

FSHS next travels to Olathe South for the Sunflower League opener for both squads. That contest figures to be much tougher for the Firebirds.

“They’re a handful for everybody and they’re probably going to present some matchup problems for us,” Law said, noting the team’s experience and the presence of 6-foot-4 guard Denver Holmes, who he said was the best player in the Sunflower League. “We’re going to have to play much better than we played tonight.”