OVERLAND PARK — Garrett Luinstra may flash a smile on the court, but the Free State guard has already embraced the villain-type role of silencing opposing crowds.

In that regard, he’ll fit right in with his squad next year.

“I like that,” Luinstra said with a laugh. “Me and my team love going on (other) team’s courts and shutting them out.”

Already well ahead in the Firebirds’ 74-56 win on Friday, Luinstra walked to the free-throw line to shoot a 1-and-1. The opposing students began to chant “M-I-Z Z-O-U” at the future Kansas walk-on, which brought back the trademark smile.

Luinstra calmly knocked down the first, turned to the students and gestured with his hands for them to get even louder. The chanting stopped, but Luinstra wasn’t done, knocking down the second and then scoring again moments later to finish with a game-high 23 points.

He was far from the only standout on a high-powered Free State attack.

“Some night, we’re not going to be able to shoot it that well,” coach Sam Stroh said after the game.

Some night, this was not.

The Firebirds (12-3, 8-1 in league) knocked down 10 3s in their win over the Raiders. At one point in the third quarter they went on a 12-2 run, with all four baskets coming by way of the 3.

Simon McCaffrey (two 3-pointers) hit the first basket to get things started. Luinstra (four 3s) then sprung open on an out-of-bounds play and drilled the second from the left corner, much to the chagrin of Raiders coach Brett McFall.

While the Firebirds got into position on the Luinstra 3, McFall shouted out for his players to put a hand up on Luinstra. After the shot went in, he turned back to his bench and shouted: “Does anybody listen? Did I not just call that?”

The 3-point barrage was ongoing, as Bansi King knocked down a deep 3-pointer and Zach McDermott (3 for 4 on 3s) added another to put the Firebirds up 53-37.

Having shot 10 for 18 from 3 at that point, the Firebirds could’ve had an even higher percentage — as McDermott nearly followed up a flashy first-half assist on a 3-pointer with a ridiculous behind-the-back feed, only to see the shot miss off the rim.

“I think it’s big for us,” Stroh said. “If we get three or four guys going, we’re going to be hard to defend.”

Certainly it served to energize a Free State lineup that had already received a big lift in that area from its man in the middle.

Noah Butler earned the start for Friday’s game and seemed to spark his side in a number of areas. Butler was undersized in his matchup against the Raiders’ Hunter Schneider (12 points), but he did a solid job denying passes into the post and limiting Schneider’s field goal attempts to seven.

The other way, Butler joined Luinstra and McDermott (19 points) in double figures, reaching 10 for the game with a thunderous two-handed slam in transition.

“You could say that, I guess,” Butler said, asked if it was one of the better slams of his career. “A dunk’s a dunk no matter what.”

Stroh credited Butler (six rebounds) with helping Free State win the rebounding battle, 29-19.

The Firebirds gashed the Raiders on the offensive glass. Butler tabbed three offensive rebounds while Reece White-Downing, who played the game with a wrap on his hand after injuring it on a dunk attempt vs. Shawnee Mission East, snagged six of his game-high eight rebounds on the offensive end.

“Yeah, he’s a Top-City boy,” said Luinstra of White-Downing. “He’s tough.”

The Firebirds shot their way to victory from there, nearly reaching 50 percent from the field for the game while only committing seven turnovers.

“We were just working off each other,” Butler said. “Coach just tells us to play with fun, and we just did.”

Free State (74)

Garrett Luinstra 7-17 5-6 23, Simon McCaffrey 2-6 0-0 6, Reece White-Downing 4-9 1-2 9, Noah Butler 5-6 0-0 10, Zach McDermott 6-9 4-4 19, Jalan Robinson 1-1 1-1 3, Bansi King 1-2 0-0 3, Turner Corcoran 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Hicks 0-1 0-0 0, Avant Edwards 0-2 1-2 1, DK Middleton 0-0 0-0 0, Charlie Newsome 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 12-15 74.

Shawnee Mission South (56)

Jake Potthoff 3-9 4-4 11, Nick Wissel 4-10 7-9 16, Evan Hickman 5-9 2-2 13, Max Close 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter Schneider 6-7 0-1 12, Sam Caldwell 0-0 0-0 0, Skyler Rhoads 1-2 0-0 2, Erik Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Hayden Polen 0-0 0-0 0, Major Close 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Brewer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 13-16 56.

Free State 20 19 18 17 — 74

SM South 19 10 13 14 — 56

3-point goals: Free State 10-21 (Luinstra 4, McDermott 3, McCaffrey 2, King 1); SM South 3-13 (Potthoff, Wissel, Hickman 1). Fouled out: Robinson. Turnovers: Free State 7, SM South 14.