PRAIRIE VILLAGE — Jalan Robinson couldn’t catch his breath.

No, the senior big man didn’t have the wind knocked out of him, nor was he doubled over in laughter at the chants of “S-E-C” from the Free State fans in the crowd after each big play he mad — a byproduct of his recruitment to play football at Mississippi State.

Instead it was illness causing the breathing difficulties for the 6-foot-5, 295-pound center in the Firebirds’ 53-51 win over Shawnee Mission East. Robinson huffed and puffed his way to 17 points, and the Firebirds (10-3, 6-1 in league) needed every one of them.

“Well, definitely at the beginning … I couldn’t breathe,” Robinson said in a hoarse voice. “But I wouldn’t call it the flu game. I don’t know it was like that.”

Whatever it was like, then, it came at a huge time.

Free State, defeated earlier in the year by the Lancers, needed to find a way to stop Zane Meeks. The big man “absolutely destroyed” the Firebirds in the previous meeting between the teams, said Free State coach Sam Stroh.

Meeks scored 23 points on 11 shots in a 15-point Lancers win.

Early on, the competitiveness between the two showed. Robinson and Meeks jawed back and forth, with Meeks knocking down a pair of early 3-pointers and Robinson working to get him back.

“When he was shooting 3s, he didn’t think that I could shoot,” Robinson said. “I didn’t do it too much in the beginning of the season. Now I’m starting to get a little more comfortable with it, and they just let me do it. So I’m fine with it.”

Robinson went to work in the midrange, where he scored a majority of his 17 points. He made 8 of 12 shots from the floor, including a bucket to cap off a 9-0 Firebirds run that drew “S-E-C” chants from the crowd, even if his most recent college visit came at a Big 10 school.

“Him and I were on the road this weekend for a football recruiting trip to Nebraska,” Stroh said. “He’s got some illness and bug, seems like it’s going around, but I thought he was big in the second half.”

More than just Robinson, the Firebirds as a team locked down to begin the third quarter. They forced six straight stops right off the bat, Stroh said, which helped the Firebirds outscore their opponent 21-7 in the period.

Just how they drew it up, right? Not quite.

“I told ’em before the game,” Stroh said, “if they hold us to 50 points, we lose. If we get to 60, we win.”

So instead it was the defensive effort that led to the victory.

Meeks, guarded by Robinson for much of the night, finished with 21 points, but he did so on 7-for-18 shooting. As a team, the Lancers shot just under 36 percent on 2-point shots.

The other way, Reece White-Downing chipped in with 11 key points, leaving the game late in the fourth quarter only after landing awkwardly on a dunk attempt in which he was fouled.

Of his wrist, which was wrapped with ice after the game, White-Downing smiled and said: “It’s going good.”

The only other player for the Firebirds to reach double-figures was Garrett Luinstra, who ended up leading the team in points.

Held quiet in the first half because of foul trouble, Luinstra finished with 19 points after hitting three shots and five free throws in the fourth quarter.

No bucket by Luinstra felt larger than one in the third quarter, however, as he drilled a 3-pointer in a close game moments after Robinson picked up his third foul.

Luinstra, facing toward the Lancers’ student section, appeared to point to his eye as if to tell them to watch what was about to happen before hitting the shot. Asked about the moment after the game, the senior and future Kansas walk-on laughed and said he was only calling out a play.

“I’m not that dirty,” he joked.

Wandering the halls under the gymnasium at Shawnee Mission East high school, Lancers senior Jack Schoemann (22 points in two games vs. Free State this year) tapped Luinstra from behind.

“Yeah,” Schoemann said, “he is.”

Free State (53)

Garrett Luinstra 6-10 5-5 19, Simon McCaffrey 0-1 0-0 0, Reece White-Downing 4-7 3-3 11, Zach McDermott 0-7 2-4 2, Jalan Robinson 8-12 1-3 17, Noah Butler 0-1 0-0 0, Bansi King 1-4 1-2 4, Turner Corcoran 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Hicks 0-0 0-0 0, DK Middleton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 12-17 53.

Shawnee Mission East (51)

Kelyn Bolton 2-10 1-1 5, Will Curran 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Schoemann 2-2 1-2 5, Zane Meeks 7-18 4-5 21, Noah Kurlbaum 5-9 0-0 11, Ben Dollar 0-0 2-2 2 , Andy Maddox 0-0 0-0 0, Charlie Moreland 1-1 0-0 2, Deonte Carroll 1-2 0-1 3, Jack Workman 0-0 0-0 0, Seamus Carroll 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-43 8-11 51.

Free State 10 8 21 14 — 53

SM East 13 10 7 21 — 51

3-point goals: Free State 3-8 (Luinstra 2, King 1); SM East 5-12 (Meeks 3, Kurlbaum 1, D. Carroll 1). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Free State 9, SM East 13.