Overland Park ? For the second night in a row, Free State’s boys basketball team put itself in position to beat one of the top ranked teams in the state.

Once again, the Firebirds did everything but win the game.

Free State played Saint Thomas Aquinas to a draw for almost the entire game, but there was one thing it couldn’t do: stop senior Angelo Allegri.

In the end, that came back to bite the Firebirds in the third-place game of the Saints Classic on Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas.

With the score tied, Allegri received a pass from fellow senior Ben Hagenkord well beyond the 3-point line and drilled a shot as time expired to knock off FSHS, 63-60. Allegri finished with 31 points.

“I think we can live with the shot, a running 3-pointer from 20-something feet,” Free State coach Sam Stroh said. “We’ll learn from it and we’ll get better.”

However, it took a miraculous shot for the Firebirds to even be in that position.

Junior Garrett Luinstra missed a potential game-winning shot on Friday night, but Stroh still went back to the Firebirds’ most reliable scorer.

This time, Luinstra, who led the Firebirds with 20 points, came through for his team and drilled a deep 3-pointer to tie the score at 60-all with six seconds remaining.

“We run this play everyday in practice,” Luinstra said. “I’m supposed to come off a ball screen, but I just improvised and went the other way and got the open shot and it went in.”

But the Firebirds went from jubilant to dejected in matter of moments, as Allegri’s buzzer beater ultimately sealed their fate.

“I thought it was going into overtime,” Luinstra said. “Tough game.”

And yet, Free State (6-4, No. 9 in 6A) had the opportunity to ensure the game with Aquinas (8-1, No. 1 in 5A) didn’t come down to the buzzer.

The Firebirds led by two entering the fourth quarter and extended their lead to six, 48-42, with six minutes remaining. But they started to settle for jump shots and four consecutive missed jumpers turned into a 9-0 run for the Saints.

“We were short on all of them and they leak out and get a dunk and a three,” Stroh said. “Instead of us being up four or six, we’re down three.”

Free State was able to do all of that despite senior Cameron Clark battling foul trouble all night. He scored 13 points, but was only able to play 14 minutes.

He scored six points in the first four minutes, but that’s all he would play in the first half after picking up his two fouls.

After playing most of the third quarter, Clark picked up his fourth foul with seven minutes remaining. As a result, he was only able to play four minutes in the fourth quarter.

“When he was out there he gave us great minutes,” Stroh said. “A couple of fouls here and there it’s a different game. But we’re not going to blame the refs, we’re going to just keep playing.”

Despite a 1-2 record in a midseason tournament, the Firebirds insist there were plenty of positives they could take from the tournament. For starters, Stroh was really pleased to see every player he inserted into the game contribute in a positive way.

Most importantly, the Firebirds are continuing to grow as the season progresses.

“We played two really tough teams and I think we showed some grit and some competitiveness,” Luinstra said. “I think we learned a lot about ourselves and how to guard other teams.”

FREE STATE (60)

Garrett Luinstra 7-13 4-4 20, Simon McCaffrey 1-4 0-0 3, Jay Dineen 4-5 4-4 12, Sloan Thomsen 1-3 0-0 3, Shannon Cordes 2-5 1-2 5, Cameron Clark 6-8 1-2 13, Jalan Robinson 1-4 2-3 4. Totals: 22-42 12-15 60.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (63)

John Schnieders 2-2 0-1 4, Ben Hagenkord 3-8 5-6 13, Leiland Lewis 0-2 2-3 2, Nick Bulleigh 1-1 0-0 3, Angelo Allegri 10-15 6-9 31, Cameron McMillan 0-1 0-2 0, Kenny Gavin 1-1 0-0 2, Jack Boedeker 4-9 0-1 8. Totals: 21-39 12-22 63.

Free State 14 14 16 16 — 60

Aquinas 18 8 16 21 — 63

Three point goals: Free State 4-15 (Luinstra 2, McCaffrey, Thomsen). Aquinas 8-12 (Allegri 5, Hagenkord 2, Bulleigh). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Free State 12, Aquinas 9.