Shawnee Mission South brought some serious defense to its Sunflower League matchup with Olathe South on Friday night. And that defense earned the Raiders a hard-fought 41-30 victory. </p><p>SM South held the Falcons to 31-percent shooting, as the Raiders improved to 12-2 and 5-0 in league play. Olathe South dropped to 10-4 and 3-2.</p><p>&#x201C;Our entire team played good defense,&#x201D; SM South coach Brett McFall said. &#x201C;We wanted to make them handle the ball and not to let them stand out there and shoot the ball.&#x201D;</p><p>But it was the defensive play of 5-foot-9 sophomore guard Devin Newsome that particularly caught McFall&#x2019;s eye.</p><p>&#x201C;Newsome did an outstanding job on (sophomore Noah) Knight,&#x201D; said McFall, a 1997 Olathe South graduate. &#x201C;He held him to five points and scored nine himself and dished out five assists. Our strategy was once he gave the ball up, not to let him get the ball back.&#x201D;</p><p>Olathe South coach Jim Carr could not help but agree with the assessment of the Raiders&#x2019; defense.</p><p>&#x201C;Shawnee Mission South did a nice job defensively, and we struggled to put the ball in the hole,&#x201D; said Carr, who is in his fifth year at Olathe South.</p><p>Still, it was a close game, and the Raiders led just 19-15 at halftime.</p><p>Both teams had a difficult time scoring in the third quarter, and SM South led just 25-21 near the end of the third. But Raiders freshman Dainan Swoope connected on a long three-pointer, making it 28-21 entering the fourth quarter.</p><p>That&#x2019;s when SM South senior Dylan Christie took over, scoring all seven of his points in the final period.</p><p>Swoope and 6-7 junior Josh Pederson led the Raiders in scoring overall with 12 points each.</p><p>The Raiders did not shoot the ball so well themselves, but good enough to win. They were 41 percent from the field and made 10 of 11 free throws.</p><p>&#x201C;This was a hard-fought game,&#x201D; said McFall, who is in his third year at SM South.</p><p>Senior Chris King had six points and six rebounds for Olathe South. The loss was the third in the last four games for the Falcons. </p><p>But the Falcons were playing their third game without 6-8 senior Tyler Thomas, who has a sprained ankle, according to Carr.</p><p>&#x201C;I&#x2019;ve coached him in the summer,&#x201D; McFall said of Thomas. &#x201C;They will be a much better team with him in there.&#x201D;