Free State senior Jay Dineen (11) fights to drive in towards the basket on Shawnee Mission East's Jack Schoemann (11) during Tuesday's home victory for the Firebirds.

The whole gymnasium knew the ball was going in the moment it left the hands of Free State junior Garrett Luinstra.

Late in the first half, Luinstra received a kick out pass at the top of the key, where he flung it towards the hoop without a second thought. Moments after he netted the trey, Shawnee Mission East called a timeout, and Luinstra was engulfed by his teammates on his way to the bench.

It was the capper Luinstra’s 14-point individual outburst in the second quarter — which transpired in less than two minutes — to give the Firebirds their first lead of the game. FSHS never faltered, clinching a 55-46 home victory over Shawnee Mission East Tuesday.

“I thought Garrett did a good job of getting us back in it in the second quarter,” coach Sam Stroh said. “He’s done that at the JV level, just not the varsity level. Everyone knows that he needs to be that guy. He just needs to bring it every night and be that guy for us.”

Luinstra finished with a team-high 16 points on 10 shots, while knocking down all eight attempts from the free throw line. But his presence was most felt with less than five minutes to go in the second period.

After falling behind early to the Lancers, including a 10-0 run to open the game, the Firebirds were desperate for something to go their way. Senior Cameron Clark gave them a glimmer of hope, notching three consecutive baskets to close the first quarter and open the second.

Then Luinstra took over. He knocked down a long ball with 4:52 to go, trimming the deficit to four points. On the next possession, he drew contact going up for a shot and proceeded to hit both his free throws. He evened the score, 17-17, with a layup on the team’s next offensive trip.

“I just started getting into attack mode, I have the mentality,” Luinstra said. “I hadn’t really done that before, it felt great. My teammates were like ‘welcome back.'”

The Firebirds (3-2) took their first lead of the game just seconds later as they went to their full court defense. Luinstra recorded a steal and was immediately fouled, where he knocked down his two attempts from the charity stripe. Following a pair of free throws by senior Jay Dineen, Luinstra closed out his run with a 3-pointer at the 3:16 mark. It gave his team a 26-17 advantage.

During the team’s 16-0 run, Luinstra notched 14 points, while missing just one shot.

Even though it was the first such sequence for Luinstra in a game, it was not that out of the ordinary.

“We have seen that everyday in practice for the last two years,” senior Jacob Pavlyak said. “Last year he would be on the scout team and do that. So we all know what he is capable of. With a game like that under his belt, I think it’s going to be like that the rest of the season for him.”

Pavlyak had a similar stretch in the third quarter.

After having their lead cut to three points midway through the period, Pavlyak went on an 8-0 run all by himself to push the team’s lead by to the double-digit mark. He recorded the run on four made baskets from the floor. The Lancers were never really in the game from that moment on.

Pavlyak finished with 12 points on 10 attempts but was just 2-of-6 at the free throw line. Senior Sloan Thomsen added 12 points as well on the same number of looks from the floor.

“We are still a work in progress,” Stroh said. “At time we look good and some guys look good but it needs to be more consistent. They are capable of more and we know it. We just have to keep getting better in practice.”

Free State will travel to Olathe North at 7 p.m. Friday.

SM EAST (46)

Trevor Thompson 3-7 0-0 6, Kelyn Bolton 5-9 0-0 11, Jack Schoemann 5-10 3-4 14, Connor Rieg 3-8 2-3 9, Liam George 1-6 1-2 3, Seamus Carroll 0-2 1-2 3, Ben Dollar 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 13-43 7-11.

FREE STATE (55)

Jay Dineen 0-6 4-5 4, Sloan Thomsen 5-10 2-3 12, Shannon Cordes 0-6 0-0 0, Jacob Pavlyak 5-10 2-6 12, Cameron Clark 2-6 0-1 4, Garrett Luinstra 4-10 8-8 16, Jalan Robinson 0-2 0-2 0, Simon McCaffrey 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 17-26.

SM East 11 11 11 13 — 46

Free State 6 22 16 11 — 55

Three-point goals: SM East 3-12 (Bolton, Schoemann, Rieg); Free State 2-17 (Luinstra 2). Fouled out: Rieg. Turnovers: SM East 12, Free State 11.