Free?State boys basketball toppled, 65-61

Free State boys basketball

News

Schedule

If there were any positives to take away from Tuesday night, Free State High boys basketball coach Chuck Law couldn’t think of any.

The Firebirds came in winners of four out of their last five, but started flat and fell apart late, and were upended at Shawnee Mission North, 65-61.

FSHS (11-8) led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, but relented 29 points in the final eight minutes, including 13 straight at one point, to squander the lead.

“We went outside of our minds a lot tonight,” Law said. “We didn’t stay very disciplined, we didn’t guard the people we talked about.”

Two of those players, Kyle Goodburn (21 points) and Austin Danner (19 points), combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter to cap the Indians’ (5-14) stunning comeback on Senior Night.

Georgi Funtarov tallied 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Firebirds, who never seemed in a rhythm on either end of the floor.

Eric Watson (six points, five steals) ended the skid with a runner in traffic — which triggered a 15-0 Firebird rally — but doing so ended up being costly.

Watson came down awkwardly on his left ankle and fell to the floor in pain before limping to the bench, where he was forced to watch the remainder of the game. Law called the injury an Achilles strain and said he hoped it was nothing worse for his senior guard.

Box score

FREE STATE BOYS (61)

Shawn Knighton 0-2 4-4 4, Austin Hoag 2-6 0-0 4, Eric Watson 0-0 3-9 6, Alec Heline 6-11 0-0 14, Evan Manning 1-5 2-5 4, Georgi Funtarov 10-16 5-7 25, Brett Frantz 2-5 0-0 4, Cameron Dabney 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 24-59 11-16 61.

SM NORTH (65)

Kyle Goodburn 8-13 2-2 21, Austin Danner 7-16 2-2 19, Devon Lyons 1-2 1-2 3, Mason McCarthy 1-1 0-0 2, Bryan Wood 3-4 4-5 9, Lloyd Young 2-6 3-6 7, Sean Wilkes 1-1 2-2 4. Totals: 23-43 13-19 65.

Free State 12 8 23 18 — 61

SM North 9 8 19 29 — 65

Three-point goals: Free State 2-14 (Heline 2); SM North 6-14 (Goodburn 3, Danner 3). Shooting: Free State 24-59 (40 percent); SM North 23-43 (53 percent). Turnovers: Free State 13, SM North 22.