Overland Park ? Friday was quite a night for Shawnee Mission South senior guard Eric Monroe.

First, he was named second runner-up for king at the annual SM South Sweetheart ceremony.

Then he poured in 21 points, helping the Raiders smash Lawrence High, 75-48 in high school boys basketball.

Monroe scored 12 straight points for SM South in the third quarter, which effectively ended the Lions’ hopes.

“We didn’t think they’d come out as hot as they did in the first half, but this was their night, and they never missed,” LHS junior guard Tyler Knight said.

It wasn’t Lawrence’s night from the get-go.

The first quarter may have been the Lions’ ugliest eight-minute stretch of the season as they entered the second quarter down, 15-5. In that frame, the Lions went just 1-for-11 from the field and turned the ball over five times.

Lawrence’s first field goal didn’t come until senior center Tony Anderson’s layup with five seconds remaining in the quarter.

Though many of the Lions’ misses in the first quarter were layups that seemed to rim out, the Raiders began their hot night from the floor by going 7-for-15.

“I don’t want to say that everything hinged on luck, but the ball dropped for them, and it hung on the basket and fell out for us,” LHS coach Chris Davis said. “I think after it happened for such a long period of time, it was difficult for us to keep our focus.”

Lawrence High's Ian Handshy center, goes up for a shot in the lane over Shawnee Mission South's Bryce Morris-Lee. The Lions lost, 75-48, Friday night in Overland Park.

The Lions trailed at halftime, 34-17, and had more time than usual to think about the first 16 minutes. Five of the Raiders players took part in the halftime Sweetheart Ceremony during an extended intermission, but SM South wasn’t fazed.

The teams swapped blows early in the third quarter before Monroe got in the zone, hitting two three-pointers and a few more short jumpers and capping his personal 12-5 run on the Lions with a dazzling coast-to-coast layup after faking a dish to teammate Jo Jo Scott.

Despite briefly getting warm in the third, LHS struggled to hit only 18 field goals the entire game, while SM South shot an astonishing 30-of-51 from the floor.

Senior guard David Freeman was the only Lion in double figures, tallying 10 points.

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Before the wounds could begin to heal from their 27-point smackdown, the Lions have to disable their short-term memories and prepare to face the state’s No. 1 team, crosstown rival Free State, tonight at FSHS.

“That’s the biggest game of the year for us, and not just because they’re Free State, but they’re the number-one team in the state and we want to prove a point,” Freeman said. “We better bounce back, because if we don’t, we’re gonna get ran like we did tonight, and it’ll be worse.”