Derby — The Free State Firebirds boys basketball team (9-13) trailed by as many as 16 points and cut the deficit down to just one with under two minutes remaining, but came just a few plays short of clinching a spot in the state tournament, falling to top-seeded Derby 52-46 on Friday night in the substate championship.

“That’s a good team we lost to, one hell of a team,” Free State head coach Dwayne Paul said postgame. “Shoutout to coach (Brett) Flory, the whole Derby community, it’s a great environment. This is why you play basketball for games like this right here.”

In a tale of two approaches, Derby (20-1) made enough 3-pointers, with eight in the game, to defeat the No. 9-seeded Firebirds. On the other end, Free State made just two 3-pointers on 18 attempts.

Derby began the game with a 3-pointer on its first possession before Free State settled in on the defensive end and held the Panthers scoreless for the next two minutes. During that time, Free State scored seven straight points, including five from senior Korbin Dowdell. Dowdell scored a team-high 15 points in his final game in a Free State uniform.

Both teams went cold from the field for much of the final four minutes of the first quarter before the Panthers tied the game at nine. Moments later, freshman Brendan Barrett got the Firebirds back ahead as time expired with a turnaround jump shot to take an 11-9 lead after the first quarter.

Senior Jack Ulwelling of Derby scored the first five points of the second quarter, including a 3-pointer to give his team its first lead, which it never relinquished. Ulwelling finished the first half tied for a game-high seven points.

Free State took advantage of its size in the post, feeding junior Braden Wilmes for an easy layup to cut the deficit to one point. That’s the closest the Firebirds would get for the remainder of the half, as the Panthers ended the half on a 16-3 run to lead 30-16 at halftime.

The Firebirds committed 10 turnovers in the first half and six in the second quarter, largely due to the effect of Derby’s full-court press.

“When you play their style, you have to be 100% committed to it, and they’re committed to it,” Paul said. “They’re deep, they play nine deep, 10 deep, and everyone comes in and gives them positive things… It sped us up a little bit, it did what it was supposed to do.”

Out of the locker room, Free State got the first four points of the half from Dowdell and Wilmes. Derby responded with its sixth 3-pointer of the game before Wilmes and Dowdell again scored four straight points combined to cut the deficit to nine.

“We just had to keep getting stops,” Paul said on the message at halftime. “In the second quarter, it was hard. They were able to run and jump Korbin a lot, that’s what I would do. I felt like we were making plays out of the trap, but we weren’t being aggressive…and then, we had to get back to getting defensive stops.”

The Panthers continued to find a response for every Firebird rally, as Ulwelling gave the hosts a boost of momentum going into the fourth quarter with a push shot as time expired, giving Derby a 40-31 lead.

After a slow start to the fourth quarter, Free State scored seven straight points to cut the deficit to four points, 44-40.

Once again, the Panthers responded, as freshman Cale Clingan made his third 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to seven, followed by a Derby timeout.

“Credit to them, Bennett (Nagel) makes the right play,” Paul said. “Their tall kid, Clingan, makes a big shot. Bennett’s finger tipped it, and that’s basketball.”

The Firebirds had one last surge of energy out of the timeout, scoring six straight points, including a scoop-and-score by Dowdell to cut the deficit down to just one.

In cutting the double-digit deficit, Paul said he was proud of his team, as it would have been easy to lay down and give up in that type of situation on the road.

“Never one time, even when we got down, no one pointed fingers, no one yelled, no one screamed,” Paul said. “We knew this was basketball. You want to try and change momentum, it’s a make or miss game.”

Derby’s Avant Riley responded with a mid-range jumper on the next possession to push the lead back to three. Free State had a chance to tie the game on a 3-point attempt by Barrett that fell just short, and Derby made three consecutive free throws to punch its ticket to the state tournament.

Following the game, Paul said there were a lot of emotions in the locker room, but he feels that after doubling Free State’s win total from last season, he and his program have put the state on notice.

“I told the guys, we walk in with smiles, and we’re walking out with some smiles, no one’s going to hang their head,” Paul said. “We got to just go back to the drawing board and keep getting better.