Hack leads way in FSHS victory

? Inside a lively visitors locker room Friday night at Shawnee Mission Northwest High, Free State senior Weston Hack might have been the only Firebird with a negative thought running through his head.

Following a 62-50 FSHS victory, Hack was informed he finished with 28 points, a career high for the 6-foot-3 guard.

All he could think: “I should’ve had more, because I missed so many free throws down the stretch.”

No one gave Hack a hard time for going 4-for-9 at the foul line in the final 3:08. Not after he hit eight of 12 field goals and scored 18 points in the first half (11 in the second quarter), guiding Free State’s second win in a row.

“He had a great game,” teammate Hunter Gudde said. “You can’t blame him for missing free throws. He carried the team.”

The Firebirds (7-6), who won at SMNW in the regular season for the first time in coach Chuck Law’s nine-year tenure, held a five-point halftime lead and turned up their defensive intensity to open the second half. Though the Cougars scored the first bucket of the third quarter, FSHS only allowed them one more in an ensuing span of more than seven minutes. SMNW shot 3-for-8 in the quarter, with four turnovers, and trailed 44-34 entering the fourth.

“We just needed to get some important stops,” said junior Gudde, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. “Coach has always been strict on coming out in the third quarter and playing hard.”

Law, of course, vastly preferred what he saw out of his squad in the third.

“We were awful defensively in the first half. We were a sieve,” Law said, far removed from the Cougars’ 6-for-10 shooting in the first quarter. “Wherever they wanted to take it, they were taking it, and if they missed it, they just went and got it. We didn’t block out a soul.”

When SMNW (3-12) didn’t find success in the second quarter, turnovers often were to blame. The Cougars gave it away 14 times, while FSHS finished with three and entered the fourth having relinquished just one, in the first quarter.

“We’ve played a really good floor game,” Law said, “and a lot of that credit goes to Andrew (Keating) and to Weston, obviously.”

The coach said his senior point guard, Keating, is solid without doing anything flashy.

“He’s not a point guard dominating the ball,” Law said of the 5-foot-9 senior, who finished with nine points, “but he’s doing a good job of getting us into (offensive sets), initiating and not turning the ball over.”

The road victory marked the first time Free State achieved back-to-back wins since opening the season 2-0 in December.

Hack felt great about that.

“That was a good team win, to be able to come on the road against a Sunflower League opponent and win by double digits,” he said after also contributing three steals and eight rebounds. “Regardless of their record, it’s still not an easy thing to do. We’re encouraged about the way we’re playing right now.”

FSHS will play host to Shawnee Mission North on Tuesday.

FREE STATE (62)

Andrew Keating 3-8 3-6 9, Weston Hack 8-12 11-17 28, Justin Narcomey 1-5 0-0 2, Hunter Gudde 3-5 5-8 11, Jack Raney 1-2 0-0 2, Chrision Wilburn 1-2 2-2 4, Sloan Thomosen 0-4 0-0 0, Jay Dineen 0-0 0-0 0, Shannon Cordes 2-3 1-2 6. Totals 19-41 22-35 62.

SM NORTHWEST (50)

Douglas DeBose 2-4 0-0 4, Mark Kimotho 1-4 1-2 4, Handy 0-2 0-0 0, Austin Sanders 5-6 2-3 12, Dylan Dirks 1-8 4-7 6, Clay Drouillard 1-2 1-2 4, Jacob Steinle 1-4 0-0 2, Duran Lowe 2-3 1-4 5, Noah Kendall 0-0 3-4 3, Jamey Fisher 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Oleson 1-1 0-0 3, Jaylen Love 2-2 1-2 7. Totals 16-37 13-24 50.

Free State 15 18 11 18 — 62

SM Northwest 16 12 6 16 — 50

Three-point goals: FSHS 2-12 (Hack, Cordes); SMNW 4-13 (Love 2, Kimotho, Drouillard). Fouled out: FSHS: Dineen; SMNW: Kimotho, Handy. Turnovers: FSHS 3, SMNW 14.