Baldwin ? Playing on a summer basketball team from Olathe works just fine for Baldwin High’s Joe Gipp and Brian Lauridsen.

Playing at home in the Sport 2 Sport tournament Sunday worked even better, as the Olathe Bruins placed fourth in the 11th/12th grade boys bracket at Baker University its best showing in four tournaments this year.

Jerome Carey of Lee's Summit (Mo), left, is guarded by Eric Camron of Topeka in the championship game of the Sport 2 Sport tournament. Carey and the Sonics defeated The Park from Topeka Highland Park, 54-37, Sunday in Baldwin.

“It’s extremely nice,” Lauridsen said of playing in Baldwin. “You don’t have to wake up as early and it’s right down the block so it makes it really easy.”

Gipp and Lauridsen have been part of the team from its beginning last summer.

“I used to grow up in Olathe,” Lauridsen said, “so I knew a lot of the guys already. We did it last summer and we decided we wanted to do it again this summer.”

With teams from Kansas City and Lawrence in the tournament, the pair from the Class 4A school appreciated the chance to compete against players from bigger schools.

“I’m glad that we can get this great experience to play against kids from outside of our area,” Gipp said. “I think that those guys coming over from Olathe have really stepped up the competition for us 4A boys.”

The Bruins were the only team with local players to make the tournament’s semifinals, defeating the Princeton Predators which featured three players from Wellsville High in the quarterfinals, 46-28.

The Bruins lost to the eventual champion, Lee’s Summit (Mo.) Sonics, in the semis, 67-54. The Sonics defeated The Park, a team from Topeka Highland Park, in the finals, 54-37.

In the third-place game, the Bruins lost to the North Kansas City (Mo.) Kings, 59-51.

The Kings jumped out to a 10-2 lead early in the game, but the Bruins clawed back to within one with under two minutes remaining in the first half. The Kings scored 12 of the next 14 points, though, and held off the Bruins the rest of the way.

Lauridsen scored six points in the third-place game and Gipp added four.

Both Sport 2 Sport teams lost their quarterfinal matches at Baker University. The S2S 18 team lost to the Sonics, 59-54, and the S2S 17 team fell to the Kings, 49-44.