STILWELL ? There weren’t any bears at the Lawrence High boys basketball game against Blue Valley, but there were plenty of reasons for LHS fans to say, “Oh, my.”

The Lions took out the Tigers, 71-50, Saturday to claim the Blue Valley Shootout championship.

“One of the qualities of a team that can win in big games is being able to, when you make a run on a team, being able to close the door on them,” LHS coach Chris Davis said.

That’s exactly what the youthful Lions (5-0) did after having a seven-point lead at halftime.

LHS took off on a 15-3 run in the first four minutes of the second half and never again was threatened.

“We let a couple of teams hang around that, if it would have been anyone else, they would have beat us, the last couple of games,” Lawrence’s Kristian Pope said. “So it was really important for us to come out and kind of step on the gas and put them away – let the young guys get in there and play a few minutes.”

Pope helped fuel the second half push, scoring six of his 10 points after halftime.

Pope’s big second-half play, along with that of teammates Tyron Mumford and Nathan Padia, relieved some of the pressure for Tyler Knight.

After scoring 11 points in the first two quarters, Knight put up just two shots, making one, in the final two quarters and hit both of his free-throws.

Knight finished the tournament with 11 three-pointers for the three rounds.

“Kristian helps out a lot with that because they’re focused on his penetration after he makes a few layups,” Knight said. “Then it just comes easy to me. We practice kickouts everyday in practice, so it’s just a normal thing.”

A rowdy Blue Valley home crowd actually made for a difficult start for the Lions, as they missed their first eight shots from the field.

“We want to be in those environments where we have people yelling against us and be able to stand up to it,” Davis said. “The guys showed tonight that I think they can come through when that happens. I’m really proud of their efforts in a hostile environment, being able to step up.”

The victory gave Davis his first title at the tournament.

“We wanted to get this one for him,” Knight said. “I know he’s had a couple if sleepless nights over this tournament, and it was good to bring him one.”

The LHS coach said he was happy with five straight victories to start the season, but he said the team hadn’t played its best yet.

“We have a lot better game inside of us,” Davis said. “(Not) taking away from the beginning of the season, but the Sunflower League starts next game, and the competition level is very, very tough in the Sunflower League.

“And I told the guys, ‘You know, it only gets harder from here.’ But it was a nice start, we’ll enjoy it for a day, then we’ve got to get back after it for Shawnee Mission Northwest.”