The Junction City Blue Jays ( 5-6 )  led Lawrence Free State ( 9-1 ) by seven points at halftime and appeared in control in the third quarter before the Firebirds rallied back to defeat them 61-53 in the winner’s bracket semifinal round of the McPherson Invitational.

A Blue Jay possession in the third quarter did not produce points and an ensuing battle for the basketball ended with an exchange of words and a technical foul on a Blue Jay player. That produced four points for Free State….two via free throws and a following field goal. The Firebirds went on from there to win the game.

Blue Jay coach Pat Battle said, “The big thing is, kind of lost our poise there in the third – early fourth.” But Battle also noted he was proud of the way his players competed. “They fought really hard, and quite honestly execution-wise it was our best night. We really ran some great things tonight.”

Firebird guard Hunter Gudde was a major problem for the Blue Jays. He scored 37 points in the contest, and hit 21 of 23 free throw attempts. In the fourth quarter alone as Free State controlled the basketball and the lead, forcing Junction City to foul, Gudde hit 12 of 14 free throw attempts.

The Blue Jays play Wichita-Bishop Carroll in the third place consolation game in the tournament on Saturday at 5 p.m. Lawrence Free State will advance to meet McPherson in the title game Saturday night.