Somehow Lawrence High and Wichita West dodged each other at the Topeka Invitational in mid-January at Topeka West.

LHS boys basketball coach Chris Davis does remember being impressed during the brief time he saw the Pioneers play Topeka High in the first round of the tournament.

“Coach (Aaron) Siebenthall and I were scouting that game,” Davis recalled. “It looked like it was over because Wichita West looked so good. We left the game for the dinner, came back to do the evening session and found out Topeka High had won (67-59).”

LHS (18-4) and Wichita West (14-8) won’t be able to avoid each other on Thursday, when the two meet in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament. Tipoff is 8:15 p.m. at White Auditorium in Emporia.

“They’re pretty athletic,” Davis said of West. “They’re quick and have three decent scorers. I think we can match up with them and I’m confident about the outcome.”

West wound up in eighth place at the Topeka tourney with close losses to Topeka West (58-53) and Topeka Highland Park (57-54). LHS finished first with close wins over Highland Park (60-51), Seaman (58-54) and Kansas City Washington (53-50).

“We’ve had our ups and down,” said West coach Kevin Hartley, who squad is on an up having won seven in a row  all on the road  entering state. “We started 6-2, went through the Topeka tournament and didn’t win a game. That was definitely the low point because we had a chance to win all three games. We had leads in all those games, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I got to see Lawrence briefly in Topeka, but we were 0-3 playing in the popcorn games and they were 3-0 playing the games that meant something.”

West, a state qualifier for the first time since 1997, averages 59.4 points a game and surrenders 55.3 a game. Besides the three losses in Topeka, the Pioneers were defeated by Wichita North twice, Wichita Heights twice and Wichita East in the Greater Wichita League.

L.J. Fields, a 6-foot-6 senior forward-center, is the lone Pioneer averaging in double figures with 15.6 points per game.

“This is the most experienced team I’ve had,” said Hartley, in his seventh year coaching West. “We play eight seniors and one junior. We’re pretty deep. This is the same group we had last year but came up a game short (of reaching state).”

The Pioneers qualified with a 63-46 sub-state victory over Wichita Northwest on Saturday. West held a commanding 38-21 lead at halftime. Fields finished with a game-high 16 points and 16 rebounds. Senior Jordan Tucker, a 6-1 forward and the team’s “banger,” according to Hartley, scored 10 points. Richard Stone, a 6-3 senior, scored 11 points with three three-pointers.

Hartley saw the Lions briefly at the Topeka tournament.

“I was definitely impressed by what I saw,” said Hartley, still waiting Tuesday afternoon for video on the Lions. “They have the ability to shoot the basketball. I didn’t pay too much attention because I didn’t think I needed to because they were on the other side of the bracket.”

Hartley has been told of Lawrence’s senior guards D.J. Watkins and Stephen Vinson, the top two scorers for the Lions.

“I heard their chemistry is very good and they play well together,” Hartley said. “They seem to feed off Vinson and he’s their leader. They’re going to be a big challenge. I don’t know if we’ve played anybody with guards like they have.”