FSHS boys start cold, lose 66-51

? Cold shooting plagued the Free State High boys basketball team early, and the Firebirds couldn’t recover in a 66-51 loss to Shawnee Mission East on Saturday in the third-place game of the McPherson Invitational.

Free State hit just five of 25 shots in the first half — 20 percent shooting — and fell behind 28-12.

“Five-for-25 isn’t going to do it,” FSHS coach Chuck Law said. “We had a lot of good shots. We dug ourselves too big a hole.”

Brett Frantz led the Firebirds with 21 points. Kyle McFarland scored 10, and Shawn Knighton added eight.

The Firebirds went 1-2 in the tournament, defeating Buhler in the first round and falling to Blue Valley West by one point in the semifinals.

“We played 10 very good quarters out of 12,” Law said. “That’s pretty good basketball for us. We would have liked to have won the third-place game. I feel good about what we got accomplished. Three days in a row is a tough stretch. It’ll be good to have a couple days off.”

Law said the Firebirds would take two days off and return to practice Tuesday. Free State (3-9) next will play Jan. 31 at Shawnee Mission West.