Leavenworth ? Winning on the road is no easy task, regardless of who the opponent is.

That’s why Free State boys basketball coach Sam Stroh was certainly pleased to walk away Tuesday night with a 50-45 victory over Leavenworth. The Firebirds (5-2) have now won three consecutive games, including two straight away from Lawrence.

“It was good to get out with a win,” Stroh said. “I wish we would have finished around the rim a little bit better. But offensively it seemed like we never made consecutive shots in the second half. It went back and forth and we were able to pull away at the very end.”

But what made FSHS’s narrow escape of Leavenworth even more impressive was the fact the team was shorthanded. Senior Jacob Pavlyak rolled his ankle at the end of Monday’s practice, which sidelined him for the first time this season.

As a result, the Firebirds were thin on the bench. They rotated a majority of their minutes between seven players, with Shannon Cordes and Simon McCaffrey playing more minutes than they were normally accustomed to.

Both players responded well to the extra playing time.

McCaffrey knocked down a pair of big 3-pointers, one of which came in the closing seconds of the third period to give the Firebirds their first lead of the second half. He reclaimed the lead with his second trey with 5:44 to go. Cordes finished with four points.

“It was good, some guys played out of position,” Stroh said. “It was big for Simon and Shannon, who hit a couple big shots for us.”

However, picking up the slack in terms of scoring was junior Garrett Luinstra. He tallied a team-high 22 points on 17 shots from the floor. He was 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, including a perfect fourth quarter, in which he knocked down all seven attempts from the charity stripe.

Luinstra notched more than a third of his point total in the fourth quarter, when his team needed it the most. After trading buckets for a majority of the fourth quarter, Luinstra recorded the final six points for Free State. His personal 6-1 run in the final 1:30 of the game was enough to stave off the Pioneers.

“It was pretty tight and we had some big plays down the stretch to get the win,” Luinstra said. “So it felt really good. I think it’s going to give us some good experience for us down the road with sub-state and state.”

It was clear it was going to be a battle from the start.

Neither team held a double-digit advantage at any point during the first half. Senior Sloan Thomsen, who netted two 3-pointers in the second quarter, gave the Firebirds an 18-9 lead early in the second quarter. It would be the widest the margin would ever be as the Pioneers pushed back late in the second period to take a 26-25 lead at the intermission.

“It was good to get out with a road win,” Stroh said. “Now hopefully we can regroup and get some guys healthy.”

Free State will play host to undefeated Olathe Northwest at 7 p.m. Friday.

FREE STATE (50)

Jay Dineen 1-6 1-4 3, Sloan Thomsen 2-7 0-0 6, Shannon Cordes 0-2 4-6 4, Cameron Clark 3-9 1-2 7, Garrett Luinstra 6-17 8-10 22, Jalan Robinson 0-6 2-4 2, Simon McCaffrey 2-4 0-0 6. Totals: 14-51 16-26 50.

LEAVENWORTH (45)

Devin Johnston 2-5 1-2 6, DeJuan Sweet 3-13 1-2 8, Michael Sauer 1-2 0-0 3, Zachary Thiel 1-4 3-4 5, Reece Williams 1-5 5-6 7, Jordan Berry 6-11, 0-0 14, Julain Williams 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 15-42 10-14 45.

Free State 12 13 12 13 — 50

Leavenworth 9 17 9 10 — 45

Three-point goals: Free State 6-16 (Luinstra 2, McCaffrey 2, Thomsen 2); Leavenworth 5-14 (Johnston, Stewart, Sauer, Berry 2). Fouled out: Stewart, Williams. Turnovers: Leavenworth 11, Free State 9.