Lawrence High has prospered in boys basketball tournaments the past two seasons.

Starting with tonight’s quarterfinal against Wichita West, LHS hopes to prosper three more days at the Class 6A state tournament at White Auditorium in Emporia.

The No. 3 seed Lions (18-4) will battle the No. 6 seed Pioneers (14-8) at 8:15 tonight. Cable channel 6 will show a replay of the game at 11 tonight.

“We’ve been a good tournament team the past couple of years,” said LHS coach Chris Davis, whose squad has posted an 11-1 record in its past four three-game tourneys. “We are very much focused on trying to go there to win. It (sub-state) was a huge hurdle to get over. We’ve reached that main goal and now we have to set a new one.”

LHS senior point guard Stephen Vinson, a candidate for all-state and league player of the year honors, craves the tournament format.

“We definitely get up for tournaments,” said Vinson, who scored a game-high 20 points in the sub-state championship against Olathe East and averages 15.7 points a game. “We seem to have a lot more energy in tournament play. We’re pretty good playing back-to-back games.”

LHS is at state for the first time since 1995, when the Lions won the state title. That ’95 club also entered state with an 18-4 record.

“We want to get to the semifinals,” said LHS junior forward Brandon McAnderson, who scored a career-high 22 points in the sub-state semifinal win over Leavenworth. “That means we get to stay around for two more games. Hopefully, our last one will be a state championship.”

Half the state field is from the Sunflower League. No. 5 seed Olathe North (15-7), No. 7 seed Shawnee Mission North (12-10) and No. 8 seed SM West (11-11) join LHS as league representatives at state. The Lions, co-Sunflower League champs with Olathe South, beat SM North and SM West during the regular season. Lawrence’s only league loss was a 65-52 setback to O-North.

LHS is the lone league school favored to win its opener.

“We do have our sights set pretty high,” Davis said.

The Lions have been led all season by their senior guards, Vinson and D.J. Watkins (the team’s top scorer at 17.8 points per game).

“Stephen brings tremendous court vision,” Davis said. “The biggest thing D.J. brings is that the other team has to put a defender on him wherever he goes. To be able to match up with the two of them makes it really hard.”

Wichita West, entering state with a seven-game winning streak (all on the road), is led by 6-foot-6 senior center-forward L.J. Fields. Comfortable at the wing or top of the key, Fields averages 15.6 points a game to lead the Pioneers, at state for the first time since 1997.

Notes

LHS has four state titles in boys basketball 1914, 1948, 1983, 1995. … LHS is making its 35th state appearance, which ranks ninth in Kansas prep history. … LHS has 47 wins all time at the state tourney, which ranks ninth in the state. …. In 2001-02, the Lions were 7-1 at neutral sites 2-1 at the Blue Valley Shootout, 3-0 at the Topeka Invitational and 2-0 at the Free State sub-state. … Vinson has played in all 65 of Lawrence’s varsity games the past three years. He started 13 games as a sophomore, 20 as a junior and all 22 his senior year. … Watkins has made a school-record 104 three-pointers for his career (56 as a senior and 48 as a junior). … Watkins needs five more threes to tie Todd Heitshusen’s school record for a season (61 in 1997-98).. … LHS has hit a school-record 138 three-point goals (previous best was 115 by 1994-95 team).