Gudde’s shot caps FSHS comeback

Free State guard Hunter Gudde (30) lays the ball over Olathe Northwest defender Colton Owens (10) Friday night in Olathe.

Olathe ? Friday night at Olathe Northwest, Free State High’s boys basketball team spelled redemption: H-U-N-T-E-R.

Senior Firebirds guard Hunter Gudde, who last season missed a potential game-tying layup in the final seconds of a loss to the Ravens, on Friday drove from the top of the key with the fourth-quarter clock winding down on the road and scored the clinching lay-up. The shot put a buzzer-beating exclamation point on an improbable 69-68 Free State victory.

“Coach (Sam Stroh) told me before the game that I owed them one,” Gudde said after scoring 12 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth, helping FSHS recover from an 18-point deficit to open the quarter. “His confidence in me really made me be able to make that shot at the end of game and just pull through.”

Last-second drama didn’t even seem like a possibility when the third quarter ended and the Ravens led, 60-42. ONW had spent most of the first 24 minutes beating up the Firebirds inside with 6-foot-7 junior Matt Vanderslice (11 points) and 6-5 sophomore Luke Waters (18 points). When those two weren’t producing in the paint, just about every player in a Ravens uniform was cashing in three-pointers, as the home team drilled 10 of 14 from downtown in the first three quarters.

“I don’t remember them missing a three the whole game,” Gudde said. “It was ridiculous out there. We couldn’t get anything to go our way, but then in the fourth quarter we finally got something to go our way.”

First-year FSHS coach Stroh had one request of his team entering the final eight minutes: “Let’s win one quarter.”

The Firebirds (6-1) chipped away as Olathe Northwest went cold at the free-throw line (7-for-18 in the fourth), but still trailed by 12 with 3:45 to play. An implausible rally began to pick up steam as FSHS, utilizing full-court pressure, forced ONW into a five-second violation on an in-bound play. Shortly after, a Gudde offensive rebound — one of six for Free State in the fourth — led to a left-corner three-pointer from junior guard Shannon Cordes, pushing the visitors within single digits.

This all came about moments after Stroh thought to himself, “Do I get ’em out and just save their legs for (today, when FSHS plays Lee’s Summit North)? No, we’ve got tough kids.”

Good instincts. With less than two minutes left, backup senior forward Drew Tochtrop dove onto the floor to get a steal, setting up senior forward Chrision Wilburn (15 points) for a layup.

The next trip down the floor, Cordes tipped in his own miss to cut Northwest’s lead to five with a minute and a half remaining.

“We all kind of had the same mindset,” said Cordes, who shot 3-for-6 from three-point range and scored 14 points off the bench. “We all just wanted to win and needed that win. It was all about hustle and making shots.”

In the final 63 seconds, Gudde drove in for a score, Tochtrop came away with another steal and lay-in and Vanderslice missed two free throws in a one-point game with 23 seconds to play.

Stroh called timeout with 7.7 seconds on the clock to draw up a play for Gudde, and reminded his go-to driver — who also missed a would-be game-winning layup in a one-point loss at St. Thomas Aquinas last season — that he owed the Ravens.

After scoring the game-winner, Gudde walked to shake hands with Olathe Northwest’s coaches and players as the Free State student section and many of his teammates celebrated his heroics on the court.

“For everyone, it was just an amazing experience winning this game,” Gudde said, “but we’ve got to come out (today) and do the same thing.”

Free State (69)

Kristian Rawls 1-4 1-2 3, Chrision Wilburn 5-7 5-6 15, Sloan Thomsen 1-2 0-0 3, Jacob Pavlyak 1-4 0-2 2, Hunter Gudde 8-13 8-10 26, Darian Lewis 1-1 2-2 4, Shannon Cordes 4-10 3-4 14, Drew Tochtrop 1-2 0-0 2, Simon McCaffrey 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-43 19-26 69.

Olathe Northwest (68)

Colton Owens 1-3 0-0 3, Jackson Nicodemus 4-7 1-4 11, Jace Kline 1-1 0-0 3, Matt Vanderslice 5-8 1-5 11, Luke Waters 7-10 2-3 18, Kyle Shiever 3-5 3-6 12, Jack Parks 2-3 0-0 5, Charlie Holmgren 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 25-39 7-18 68.

Free State 15 10 17 27 — 69

Olathe NW 19 20 21 8 — 68

Three-point goals: FSHS 6-14 (Cordes 3, Gudde 2, Thomsen); ONW 11-17 (Shiever 3, Waters 2, Nicodemus 2, Owens, Kline, Parks, Holmgren). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: FSHS 6, ONW 10.