Free State senior Jay Dineen hugs Firebird coach Sam Stroh after a 43-42 win over Blue Valley North in the third-place game of the Class 6A state tournament Saturday at Wichita State's Charles Koch Arena. Dineen made the game-winning free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining.

Wichita ? With 2.8 seconds left and his team trailing by one point in the third-place game of the Class 6A boys basketball state tournament against Blue Valley North, Free State senior Jay Dineen walked up to the free-throw line Saturday at Wichita State’s Koch Arena looking to log his first points of the game.

Dineen and the Firebirds had been through a roller coaster fourth quarter — which saw them leading by as many as 11 and trailing by four — but that was nothing new to them. None of that mattered, though, as the Free State 6-foot-2 senior calmly sank the two game-winning free throws to give the Firebirds a 43-42 victory over the Mustangs.

Shortly after hitting the free throws to clinch the Firebirds’ second third-place state tournament finish in school history — the other coming in 2007 — Dineen received a long hug from Free State coach Sam Stroh.

“That’s the guy who is going to make a play for us,” Stroh said of Dineen. “We talked about ending his high school career on a good note, and that’s a pretty good note to end on. He’s represented Free State well in the way he plays. One of my things I preach all of the time is toughness. In my coaching career, he would be in my starting lineup if we’re going to go battle for 32 minutes.”

The fourth-seeded Firebirds (18-7) took a 29-18 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Mustangs came to life over the final eight minutes. After BV North started the game 0-for-11 from 3-point range, senior Colby Bullock knocked down a trey with 5:30 remaining to pull the Mustangs within seven at 33-26.

Fellow BV North senior Mitchell Rhyner then got rolling, as he scored all seven of his points in what ended up being a 14-0 run for the Mustangs. Junior forward Miles Emery (11 points, eight rebounds) capped off the Mustangs’ surge with layup to put BV North up, 37-33, with 3:19 to go, but he went on to foul out a minute later.

“We figured it would come because it’s their last game, too, and they weren’t just going to give up without a fight,” Free State senior Jacob Pavlyak said of the Mustangs fourth-quarter charge. “We knew it would come at some point. It would have been nice if we could have stopped it a little bit, but it turned out all right.”

Along with being saddled with his fifth personal, Emery was given a technical foul as he walked off the court. Free State senior Cameron Clark knocked down the two personals, and junior Garrett Luinstra made one of the two technical free throws to pull the Firebirds back within one. The Firebirds retained the ball after the technical free throws, and Luinstra put them back in front with a driving layup with 2:16 to play.

The sixth-seeded Mustangs (17-8) went back to their go-to guard in Bullock to retake the lead with 1:13 remaining. Bullock — who finished with a team-high 14 points — swished two free throws to put the Mustangs up 39-38.

After Stroh called a timeout with 44.4 seconds left, Pavlyak drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Firebirds back in front by two. Pavlyak made four of the Firebirds’ seven triples, and finished with a team-high 14 points.

“I think I hit six threes all year before this game. I hit four this game,” Pavlyak said. “This is my last basketball game ever, so I just wanted to go out on a good note.”

Once again, though, Bullock had an answer for the Mustangs when he knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 23 seconds left.

“I’ve known Colby since he was in fourth grade,” said Stroh, who was an assistant coach at BV North from 2007-13. “I knew he wasn’t going to keep missing.”

While Stroh admitted that it was bittersweet to coach against his former team, the second-year Free State coach was proud of how his current squad did not get rattled.

“We didn’t panic,” Stroh said. “We got across half-court and didn’t have anything, called a timeout and that’s the play we ran against (St. Thomas) Aquinas. They took away Garrett, and Jay made a play and that was the end of it.”

Stroh commended his senior class of Dineen, Pavlyak, Clark, Shannon Cordes and Sloan Thomsen for welcoming him with open arms after coming to Free State in April of 2015 following a two-year stint at Shawnee Heights.

The five Firebird seniors also helped pave the way for a few underclassmen to step up and contribute throughout the season. Junior forward Jalan Robinson finished with eight points and four rebounds, and said that Pavlyak has played a big role in boosting his confidence at the varsity level.

“I’ve learned the most from Pav. I really love that man,” Robinson said. “He’s the most respectable guy. He always does the right thing.”

Pavlyak and Thomsen set the tone for the Firebirds by drilling two 3-pointers apiece in the first quarter. Between the hot start from the senior guard combo and making the clutch free throws to end it, Dineen said that the win in his final game was a great way to go out with some of his closest friends.

“Growing with all of them playing little league basketball and all this stuff, and going out with a win with all of them, it’s awesome,” Dineen said. “We need to celebrate, but it’s sad, though. It’s really sad. I’m never going to play basketball again, so being able to end it with a ‘W’ is very nice.”

BLUE VALLEY NORTH (42)

Mitchell Rhyner 3-5 0-0 7, Colby Bullock 4-12 4-4 14, Miles Emery 5-8 1-3 11, Keilon Hunter 0-3 0-0 0, Nicholas Orr 1-2 0-0 2, Jake Gittimeier 0-1 0-2 0, Eric Baston 2-4 2-2 6, Wyatt Turner 0-2 0-0 0, Dylan Freberg 1-3 0-0 2, Preston Shanahan 0-0 0-0 0, Shawn Hendershot 0-1 0-0 0, Augusta Freeman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-41 7-11 42.

FREE STATE (43)

Jared Hicks 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Luinstra 3-6 2-6 8, Avant Edwards 0-1 0-0 0, Simon McCaffrey 1-2 0-0 3, Jay Dineen 0-2 2-2 2, Sloan Thomsen 2-3 0-0 6, Jacob Pavlyak 5-8 0-0 14, Shannon Cordes 0-3 0-0 0, Jake Baker 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Clark 0-2 2-2 2, Turner Corcoran 0-0 0-0 0, Jalan Robinson 3-3 2-4 8. Totals: 14-30 8-14 43.

BVN 4 4 10 24 — 42

FSHS 14 3 12 14 — 43

Three-point goals: BVN 3-16 (Bullock 2, Rhyner); FSHS 7-15 (Pavlyak 4, Thomsen 2, McCaffrey). Fouled out: Miles Emery, BV North. Turnovers: BVN 11, FSHS 18.