Lawrence High boys basketball coach Chris Davis is more than happy to be playing Leavenworth in the Class 6A sub-state tournament at 6 tonight at Overland Park Aquinas.

There’s the obvious revenge factor, since the Pioneers hammered LHS, 78-46, in Friday’s regular-season finale.

But avoiding any Olathe school — Olathe South, North and East are all in the Shawnee Mission Northwest sub-state — was another plus.

“From the very beginning of the year, we were hoping to be in a sub-state without any Olathe schools,” Davis said. “Nobody matches up well with Olathe South, and we don’t match up well with Olathe North.

“Although, Free State and Leavenworth are some very good teams.”

Free State will play Aquinas in the second game at 7:30 tonight. The winners advance to Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. final.

The Firebirds (14-6) come in as the third seed, while Aquinas (9-11) is the six seed.

FSHS coach Jack Schreiner doesn’t mind the seeding matchup, but he’s not a fan of the setting.

“They’re a team where, you give them the chance to play at home, they are a much better team,” Schreiner said. “What does it say about the seeding if they’re going to get to play at home?”

Still, for the Firebirds to make their third trip to the state tournament in the school’s six-year history, they can’t afford to worry about the tournament site. Free State has won a school-record 14 games this season by relying on its abundance of talent and its defensive aggressiveness.

With three players — seniors Keith Wooden and Bijai Jones and junior Dain Dillingham — averaging double-figures in points, scoring hasn’t been a problem. FSHS puts up 63.6 points per game.

If the defense comes to play, few teams can match Free State’s talent.

“Our whole season has been about if we can come out with intensity,” Schreiner said. “When we do that, we are pretty successful.”

The Firebirds beat Aquinas the only two times the teams have played, in the 1997-98 and ’98-99 seasons. Schreiner said motivating a team for an unfamiliar opponent shouldn’t be a problem, though — especially when a state berth is on the line.

“It’s one of those things where, if you have to get them up for state, then you have other problems,” he said.

Davis doesn’t anticipate any motivation problems for LHS (8-12). In fact, when the Lions play Leavenworth (14-6) again, he thinks the neutral court might help them. The Pioneers played in front of a raucous home crowd on senior night Friday. That won’t be the case this time around.

“Anytime you can play on your home court, it’s an advantage. Certainly Leavenworth had that last time,” Davis said. “In this case, nobody’s used to the backboards, nobody’s used to the background.”

The Lions are scoring 50.5 points per game and will need balanced production to counter Leavenworth’s potent offense. Seniors Brandon McAnderson and Bryan Cargill each average nearly 10 points a game, while junior Taylor Parker and sophomore David Freeman have been steady scorers the last five games.

But the LHS defense could be the biggest factor.

Davis said the Lions strayed from their tough, physical defense Friday. He’s not worried about that happening twice.

“We’ve played enough solid basketball that we can compete with anybody that we have,” Davis said. “We have some things to work on, and the tape will have things for the guys to look at, but I’m OK with where we are.”