By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting had no complaints about his T-Birds' effort on the road Wednesday night against a talented Lawrence Free State team, ranked No. 5 in Class 6A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
But Shawnee Heights' 77-59 loss to the 9-2 Firebirds also showed Darting how much work still needs to be done to get where the T-Birds want to be.
"We played hard, but with our clientele right now we can't win against a good team like that,'' Darting said. "We've just got to build, build, build.''
Shawnee Heights, which drained 11 3-pointers on the night, led early, but the Firebirds took a 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and boosted their advantage to 41-28 at the half.
Free State led by 17 early in the third quarter was still in front by 14 late in the period before senior Brent Showalter and freshman Brennon Dodge canned back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the T-Birds' deficit to 52-44 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Sam Stroh's Firebirds quickly regained control, however, leading by 22 late in the game.
Sophomore Jailen Thompson led Free State with 14 points and 11 rebounds while senior Andrew Piper and junior Cooper Jackson added 13 points apiece.
Junior Mozae Downing had 7 points and 9 rebounds while consistently finding his teammates for easy buckets.
Showalter led Shawnee Heights, which fell to 4-5, with 13 points while senior Isiah Johnson and junior Nathan Pewe added 12 each. Johnson had 4 first-half 3-pointers for the T-Birds, but did not score in the second half.
Darting said the key for Heights is to take Wednesday's loss as a learning experience.
"You can only be what you can be,'' Darting said. "Saturday night (against Manhattan) we layed down and quit and I was real upset, but we didn't do that tonight. We just got beat by a better team.''
Shawnee Heights was Stroh's first head coaching job and he took the T-Birds to the Class 5A state tournament in his second and final year at the school.
"I enjoyed my time there, said Stroh, now in his sixth season at Free State. "I learned a lot there, that first year for sure. We were blessed with a lot of talent and good administration out there and I wouldn't be here if I hadn't got that job, so I was very fortunate to coach there.
"I liked the community and I thought they did a great job of supporting our kids.''
FREE STATE BOYS 77, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 59
Shawnee Heights 14 14 16 15 -- 59
Free State 19 22 11 25 -- 77
Shawnee Heights (4-5) -- Pewe 4-5 3-3 12, Johnson 4-13 0-0 12, Sanders 1-4 0-0 3, Rantz 1-1 0-0 3, Davis 2-7 2-4 6, Harrison 0-0 0-0 0, Dodge 1-2 2-2 5, Showalter 5-9 0-0 13, Ginter 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 1-3 3-4 5. Totals 19-44 10-13 59.
Free State (9-2) -- Daniels 3-7 0-1 7, Downing 3-5 1-1 7, Thompson 7-10 0-2 14, Piper 6-8 1-1 13, Jackson 5-7 1-2 13, Gonzales 3-7 0-0 8, Wheeler 1-4 0-0 2, Hawkins 3-6 0-0 8, Herlihy 1-2 0-0 2, Dineed 0-0 0-0 0, Lickert 1-1 0-0 3, Hicks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 3-7 77.
3-point goals -- Shawnee Heights 11 (Johnson 4, Showalter 3, Pewe, Rantz, Dodge, Sanders), Free State 8 (Hawkins 2, Jackson 2, Gonzales 2, Daniels, Lickert). Total fouls -- Shawnee Heights 5, Free State 9. Fouled out -- none.
