Free State High boys basketball players don’t remember all of the details from last year’s two-point, season-ending loss in overtime to Wichita Southeast.

But they remember how they felt when the clock hit zeroes, falling oh-so-close to earning a spot at the state tournament.

Throughout the offseason, they used that loss as their motivation. For the past few days, the Firebirds watched some of last year’s game film, preparing for a rematch against Wichita Southeast at 6 tonight at FSHS in the first round of sub-state.

“You always want to get revenge on the team that kept you out of state last year — ended your season last year,” Free State senior Jacob Pavlyak said. “We remember how bad that hurt and we want to make it hurt just as bad for them this year.”

The toughest task for the third-seeded Firebirds (14-6) will be trying to slow down Southeast 6-foot-4 junior guard Israel Barnes, who led the City League with 28.4 points per game. He scored 27 points against Free State last season.

Barnes, an equal-part threat to score from the 3-point line and in the post, has scored at least 35 points in six games.

“We know what he’s capable of,” Pavlyak said. “He’ll probably be the best player we’ve played all year besides (Barstow’s) Jacob Gilyard maybe. He’s an all around great player. It’s going to be tough to stop him, but we stop him, I think we have a pretty good chance of winning.”

The sixth-seeded Golden Buffaloes (10-10) are entering the postseason with losses in four of their last five games.

Wednesday’s winner will face Derby (16-4) or Topeka (9-11) on Friday.

“They’ve got some other pieces,” Free State coach Sam Stroh said. “They’ve got some young players who can shoot it a little bit better than they shot it last year. Maybe, just because they didn’t get to shoot last year. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”

After a 20-point loss against Lawrence High last week, the Firebirds are ready to write a new chapter to their season. Forget their Sunflower League title. Forget the previous winning streaks.

In a do-or-die game, it’s a new approach.

“It’s a whole new season now,” Pavlyak said. “Everything that happened in the past 20 games is over, we can’t do anything about it. We have to focus on winning one game at a time now.”

Lawrence’s boys basketball team will open against Shawnee Mission Northwest at 7 p.m. today at LHS.

The second-seeded Lions (13-7) beat SM Northwest (7-13) earlier this month, 65-54, and they have plenty of confidence after last week’s City Showdown win.

“We’re clicking at the right time, for sure,” senior Braden Solko said.

With a win, the Lions would face SM East (12-8) or SM North (7-13) for a spot at state Friday.