Free State High’s boys basketball team has faced tall teams this season. None of them were quite as strong as Shawnee Mission East on Tuesday night.

The Firebirds played well for three quarters but couldn’t keep up with the Lancers in a 54-35 loss at FSHS. When the Firebirds needed a bucket in the fourth quarter, their jump shots wouldn’t drop and most of their drives in the paint were met with arms swatting the ball out of bounds.

“They’re long. They’ve got a lot of size,” said Free State senior Weston Hack, who scored a team-high nine points. “I think that affected us quite a bit when we went into the paint. It sort of got in our minds. We just missed some shots we normally make.”

The Firebirds (3-2) trailed by three with seven minutes left in the game after junior Hunter Gudde snuck past defenders for a layup. But the Lancers (4-2) took advantage of their size with a few slip screens to get their post players rolling to the basket and went on a quick 6-0 run, while Free State missed a shot and had two turnovers.

Afterward, the Firebirds still had problems scoring the ball, while the Lancers were strong at the free-throw line.

“They’re a really good basketball team,” FSHS coach Chuck Law said. “I was really pleased with how we played for long stretches. We just had a few dry spells where we couldn’t score the ball. Their size kind of wore us out on the offensive glass in that key stretch at the start of the fourth quarter.”

The Firebirds didn’t have many answers for SM East’s 6-foot-8 senior forward Lucas Jones, who scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Jones was strong on the offensive glass, and found good position when posting up. Even when the Firebirds kept Jones out of the paint, he drained a three from the top of the arc.

Free State faced Mill Valley earlier in the season, which boasts a lot of height, but it was nothing compared to the way the Lancers made their presence known in the paint with their physicality.

Free State senior Andrew Keating tied the game midway through the third quarter with a layup, but the Lancers immediately responded with a three-pointer from junior Jay Guastello. When FSHS senior Justin Narcomey drilled a three of his own to cut the score to 30-28 with over a minute to go in the third quarter, Guastello responded once again in the closing seconds with another triple.

The Firebirds, who have had problems shooting threes all season, shot 4-for-19 from deep, which only added to problems they faced in the paint.

“Their size is really the big thing,” said senior Jack Raney, one of the Firebirds tasked with matching up with SM East’s bigs in the paint. “It’s just hard to score when anybody is that big. They’re strong, too. Down the line, when you get tired and stuff, it’s just hard, but we have to get through that.”

FREE STATE (35)

Andrew Keating 4-5 0-0 8, Weston Hack 4-12 0-2 9, Justin Narcomey 3-5 0-0 8, Hunter Gudde 3-10 1-3 7, Jack Raney 1-4 0-0 3, Jay Dineen 0-2 0-0 0, Zion Bowlin 0-1 0-0 0, Sloan Thomsen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-40 1-4 35.

SHAWNEE MISSION EAST (54)

Jack Flint 0-4 7-9 7, Gunnar Englund 0-3 1-2 1, Jay Guastello 5-9 3-6 16, Lucas Jones 7-10 9-10 24, Joey Wentz 2-4 2-2 6, Henry Sullivan 0-1 0-0 0, Davis Morrison 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Dornbusch 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 22-29 30.

SM East 11 12 10 21 — 54

Free State 10 7 11 7 — 35

Three-point goals: Free State 4-19 (Narcomey 2, Hack, Raney); SM East 4-16 (Guastello 3, Jones). Turnovers: Free State 14, SM East 8.