Olathe ? Once Weston Wiebe caught the basketball at halfcourt, the only defender between him and the basket was the rim itself.

It appeared as if the Free State High junior forward was going to dunk, but his finger roll trickled around the rim approximately 270 degrees and dropped out. Olathe East consequently passed the ball down the floor to sophomore forward Bruce Reed, who nailed a three-pointer.

By no means did that play decide the game, but the five-point swing in the final quarter was critical in Free State’s 52-49 loss at Olathe East on Tuesday night.

“We didn’t lose the game on that play,” Free State coach Chuck Law said. “We didn’t lose the game missing a 1-and-1 when it was 47-45. We lost the game by not focusing in the first eight minutes of the game. We could have had an eight- to 10-point lead at the half if we made a layup.”

Instead, the Firebirds trailed the Hawks by six at the midway point. Immediately following halftime, Free State looked tenacious and scrappy on defense. In fact, Olathe East scored only two points in the third quarter.

“(Olathe East guard Blake) Bales is a really good player,” senior guard Nick Devin said. “My job was not to let him touch the ball.”

Devin defended Bales effectively. However, Olathe East had one too many guards. Junior Justin Caresia led the way for the Hawks with 16 points, including two three-pointers.

“We knew the whole key was taking Bales away, and we knew Caresia could shoot,” Law said. “We talked about challenging him because with his feet set, he can make shots.”

Free State (4-4) matched Olathe’s East’s solid guard play with its post presence. Wiebe was masterful in the paint, accounting for 19 points. His critical layup with 1:49 left in the game gave Free State a one-point lead. Olathe East (5-2) post men routinely fronted Wiebe on defense, allowing Free State players to lob the ball over defenders for several layups.

“There wasn’t any big advantage on paper, because they had some 6-6 guys,” Wiebe said. “Once we started playing, we found their weakness and tried to work on that and score.”

Junior guard Kris Wilson had a layup with 9.5 seconds left in the game that cut Olathe East’s lead to two. After an immediate foul, Olathe East guard Danny Mundweiler missed one of two free throws. Off the miss, Wilson drove down the right side of the court and heaved a desperation three-pointer from about three feet behind the arc. The shot had a chance, but missed off the back iron.

Olathe East 42, Free State girls 40

It appeared the Free State girls basketball team gained all the momentum it needed in a five-second span in the fourth quarter.

With Olathe East (4-2) leading the majority of the game, senior guard Jenna Brantley drilled a three-pointer with 5:10 left in the final quarter to give Free State (6-2) a 31-30 lead. Senior guard Lauren Kimball then stole the Olathe East inbounds pass, took about three dribbles and converted a layup.

Unfortunately for Free State, that represented a small sequence in a broader picture. Typically, at least three Firebirds score in double figures. Tuesday night, not one Free State player scored 10 points.

“Ultimately, we slowed ourselves down by not playing good defense,” Free State coach Bryan Duncan said. “We wanted more pressure on the ball in our 2-2-1 press, and we wanted to play a lot more aggressive man-to-man defense instead of sagging off and helping on (Olathe East forward Morgan) Boyd.”

Boyd led all scores with 16.

Free State trailed by two with four seconds left. Kimball rebounded a missed foul shot and launched a desperation half-court shot that nearly fell. It hit the backboard, but fell too far off the front of the rim.