Overland Park ? Free State High junior Hunter Gudde stared at the St. Thomas Aquinas gymnasium ceiling in disbelief Friday night as he walked toward half-court to congratulate the No. 3-ranked team in Class 5A on its 51-50 home victory in the Saints Classic semifinals.

Gudde was beating himself up because seconds earlier he missed a potential game-winning layup before the final buzzer sounded. It was the second time in eight days the energetic forward earned a high-percentage look that misfired in the final seconds of a Firebirds loss.

His coach and teammates trust Gudde in that situation, regardless of what has happened lately.

“I feel bad for Hunter,” FSHS coach Chuck Law said afterward. “He’s been a great lift for us all year. … He’s come in and arguably been our second-best player the entire season.”

Free State (5-5) only had 2.8 seconds to go the length of the floor for a potential game-winner, and sophomore Jay Dineen threw a perfect pass to the opposite left wing, where Gudde hauled it in and forced his way to the paint.

“He went up and got in traffic, drove it, got to the basket,” Law said of Gudde, who scored nine points. “Maybe he didn’t quite have the legs to get up and finish on that last play (because Law played him for all 32 minutes). The execution, we couldn’t have asked for anything more. Sometimes it just doesn’t go in. That didn’t cost us the game.”

The Saints (8-2) trailed 48-44 with a minute to play after FSHS senior Weston Hack (17 points) hit a pair of free throws. But STA senior James Pyle, who had missed four consecutive attempts from downtown, drained the host team’s third three-pointer of the fourth quarter to make it a one-point game.

Following Pyle’s trifecta, Aquinas senior Adam Kutney scored inside twice in the final 30 seconds to help the Saints advance to the tournament championship game against Barstow Academy, after Free State had built a a nine-point lead midway through the third quarter.

Law, who saw his team’s four-point lead disappear in the final minute, said the loss was solely on him.

“The coach has to find a way to get them through that game and win,” Law said, “and I didn’t have guys in the right position. We had some confusion, largely brought on by me trying to do some things those last two possessions (on defense) when they got it deep to (Kutney) and scored,” the coach added. “I’m gonna wear this one for my guys. That’s my job. My job is to get them through that situation, and I didn’t do it.”

Hack made two more at the foul line, where he went 10-for-11 in the game, at the 0:18 mark, putting FSHS back on top, 50-49.

But Kutney barreled his way to the rim with 10 seconds left, scoring a layup and giving him nine of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.

While FSHS lost by two a week earlier at home to Olathe Northwest, Hack said this game had a different feel to it.

“That’s a much better team than the team we played last Friday,” Hack said, proud of the Firebirds. “We played, we executed, we did everything that we needed to do. They just made one more play down the stretch.”

Free State missed its first five field-goal attempts of the fourth quarter before senior Jack Raney knocked in a three and sophomore Sloan Thomsen hit another from behind the arc a minute and a half later.

Raney said while the outcome disappointed the Firebirds, they feel good about how they’re playing as a team.

“A game like that, you just have to brush it off your shoulders and come back the next day ready to play,” Raney said, “because it’s not the end of the season. It’s just one game.”

Free State concludes its trip to the Saints Classic at 2:15 p.m. today against Olathe East, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A.

FREE STATE (50)

Andrew Keating 1-4 0-0 3, Weston Hack 3-7 10-11 17, Justin Narcomey 1-3 0-0 2, Hunter Gudde 4-6 1-2 9, Jack Raney 3-6 0-0 8, Jacob Pavlyak 3-5 0-1 8, Chrision Wilburn 0-2 0-0 0, Jay Dineen 0-0 0-0 0, Sloan Thomsen 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 16-36 11-14 50.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (51)

Ben Hagenkord 0-1 0-0 0, Cole Friedman 1-4 0-0 2, Matt McCrave 5-7 0-0 10, Adam Kutney 7-11 4-6 18, James Pyle 2-8 0-2 6, Riley Pint 5-13 1-2 13, Chris Bollig 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 21-47 5-10 51.

Free State 12 12 14 12 — 50

Aquinas 11 9 13 18 — 51

Three-point goals: FSHS 7-18 (Raney 2, Pavlyak 2, Hack, Thomsen, Keating); STA 4-14 (Pyle 2, Pint 2). Turnovers: FSHS 9, STA 8.