Overland Park ? On most nights, Free State High senior Evan Manning’s late-game performance would have sent him home a hero for the night.

With the Firebirds trailing by three points and only 6.5 seconds to play, Manning knocked down a contested three out of an inbounds play to pull them even.

Then, as Blue Valley North guard Danny Dolan raced down the court and attempted to float in a last second shot, Manning seemingly came out of nowhere to swat the ball away.

On most nights, Manning and the Firebirds would have just forced overtime, where — who knows? — they may have pulled ahead and stolen a win.

But on Tuesday, the Mustangs had some late-game magic in them as well, as the ball bounced right to the trailing Scott Edwards, who drained a wide-open jumper just as the buzzer sounded, which sent the Firebirds to a 55-53 setback at Blue Valley North High School.

“Obviously emotions are high right now,” said Manning, who tallied 10 points, three rebounds and three steals. “We played a really good game. Unfortunately, the ball bounced their way. The guy made a great play; it was a great shot.”

The two teams went at one another from the opening tip, and fought to a near standstill after a fast-paced first half.

Seniors Austin Hoag and Eric Watson, who each finished with 10 points, led the Firebirds to a 30-29 lead at the break with eight and nine points, respectively.

But the Mustangs threatened to pull away in the third quarter and early in the fourth behind some timely three-point shooting by Dolan (13 points) and Edwards (18 points).

“You go on the road on a Tuesday night against a really good team, almost invariably that’s a recipe for a 10 or 15-point defeat,” FSHS coach Chuck Law said.

“We looked like we were headed there for a while, but we really came together and really executed down the stretch.”

Senior Alec Heline, who finished with 15 points and four steals, hit several big baskets to keep the Firebirds close, and Manning came up with a big steal and buried a three-pointer to cut the Mustang lead to 50-52 with just under a minute remaining.

After the Mustangs hit a free-throw, the Firebirds turned it over on a questionable non-call before their full-court press earned them a tie-up and possession with 21.6 seconds remaining.

Law called a timeout, and drew up the play for Manning, who received a good look for three from the wing.

“I thought down the stretch, the last three or four minutes, we played, without a doubt, the best basketball we’ve played all year,” said Law, who also received crunch-time plays from Shawn Knighton and Brett Frantz.

As the Mustangs inbounded the ball, the Firebirds hung back around midcourt, trying to stop the ball-handler and, at worst, give up a contested, low-percentage shot.

Dolan quickly drove the ball up the court though, and appeared to have a clean lane to drive to the basket, but Manning soared up to reject his shot.

Law said at that point, even though the Firebirds were slightly out of position, they were doing the right things: collapsing to the net, boxing out, and not watching the shot.

“(The second shot) almost beats you out every time,” Law said. “But you don’t anticipate (it) coming 17-feet from the basket on a floater.”

Neither did Manning.

“If I could I should have blocked it a different way,” he said. “But that wasn’t in my mind. I blocked it back, right toward the guy.

“I saw he got it, so my first thought was to go rebound and make sure nobody else got another chance, but unfortunately the shot went down.”

The Firebirds (3-1) will play host to Leavenworth on Friday.

“It’s nothing to look down upon,” Manning said. “It was a great game overall.”