As the game clock ticked down Friday night, the Shawnee Mission West section of the “Jungle” chanted “51-7, 51-7.”

The Lawrence High students retorted, “Scoreboard, Scoreboard.”

The Lions’ 61-53 boys basketball victory provided some vengeance for two heartbreaking losses to West during the football season – a 51-7 rout in October and a 22-6 season-ending playoff loss.

“Oh yeah,” said Nathan Padia, a wide receiver on the football team, “we kind of came out with a little chip on our shoulder.”

That extra motivation showed early as the Lions limited West to five first-quarter points before extending their lead to 20-10 in the second quarter.

“They didn’t shoot very well,” LHS coach Chris Davis said. “Our defense was causing them some problems.”

The Vikings, who started talented football players Jared Witter and David Leonard, roared back late in that quarter with 14-2 run, including a buzzer-beating three by Anthony Dobson to take a 24-22 halftime lead.

Davis had warned his team that West, which trailed during eight of its last nine games before coming back to win, would make a run.

“Just be ready for it,” he said.

LHS (10-5) held on with a 22-point fourth quarter to achieve one of its best victories of the season against a 12-4 West team that had won nine straight games.

“I’m really proud of them. … It’s a great win over a really great basketball team,” Davis said. “We played really well as a team.”

The Lions used a balanced attack with seven players scoring, led by Padia’s 15 points, including his three-point shot with 2:47 left to stretch their lead to 52-43. Junior John Schneider added a tough post presence, scoring 14 points and altering several shots.

“Ever time I turned around, he was blocking somebody else,” Padia said. “He’s real big. He’s physical. Not a lot of teams have a player to guard him. He causes a lot of mismatches. So we love having him.”

LHS faces another test when it takes on Olathe South – which knocked the Lions out of the Class 6A sub-state tournament last year – tonight in a makeup game for a January contest postponed by inclement weather.

“Boy, what a tough back-to-back – two of the best teams in the state,” Davis said, “but we’ll be ready.”

Shawnee Mission West 55, Lawrence High girls 32

When sophomore Taylor Bird, the Lady Lions’ catalyst and best player, picked up her second foul during the first quarter, one knew LHS faced a dire situation.

“I have to play a lot smarter,” said Bird, her eyes reddened by tears.

The early foul trouble caused LHS coach Kristin Mallory to sit her star for the duration of the Lions’ four-point second quarter, and Bird fouled out with 4:13 left in the game.

Despite missing a quarter-and-a-half of action, Bird still led the team with 11 points. Mallory defended her afterwards.

“Taylor plays hard,” she said. “I can’t get mad at her for playing hard.”

Bird was not the only LHS player to face foul trouble. Tania Jackson and Sydnei Tolefree each racked up their second fouls in the second quarter, and the former picked up four during the game.

“When you’re moving a step slower than the other team,” Mallory said, “you’re going to get fouls.”

LHS (10-6) has taken a large step back from one week ago when it rode a six-game winning streak.

“They’ve lost some of their mojo,” Mallory said. “Emotionally, they’re shot, and we’ve got to figure out what that is.”

West jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game and never looked back.

“They hit pretty much everything they threw up,” Bird said. “We just couldn’t stop them.”

The LHS woes were best symbolized by a series of events with nine seconds left in the first half. The Lions did not have any one back to inbound the ball before Abby Vestal raced back for the throw-in. She turned the ball over, and West’s Jessika Downing, who led all scores with 17, scored to close the second quarter.

“It was just a good ol’ fashioned butt kicking,” Mallory said.