Lawrence High center John Schneider (50) puts up a shot against Topeka Seaman. Schneider scored 28 points in the Lions' 75-60 victory Thursday in Topeka.

LHS senior guard Preston Scheibler (35) pushes past a Topeka Seaman defender Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 during the Lions' 75-60 victory at the Topeka High Invitational.

Junior Lance Kilburn (right) and senior James Easter try to pull down a rebound Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 during the Lions' 75-60 victory against Topeka Seaman at the Topeka High Invitational.

Topeka ? The remedy for curing the Lawrence High boys basketball team’s recent struggles turned out to involve a fairly simple solution.

Step one: Get the entire roster back to full strength. Step two: Give the ball to John Schneider. Step three: Give the ball to John Schneider some more.

The 6-foot-7 center towered over Topeka Seaman on Thursday evening, scoring 28 points in the first round of the Topeka Invitational to help LHS claim a much-needed 75-60 victory.

The Lions also received contributions from two players – Preston Scheibler and Jared Vinoverski – who weren’t in the team’s rotation to begin the season, as Lawrence put out its highest point total of the year.

LHS coach Chris Davis said getting his team to focus on finding Schneider – particularly after two tough Sunflower League losses – occurred “about every other breath” in practice the week leading up to the Seaman game.

“And it’s something we’ve needed to do for awhile,” Davis said. “Getting the ball inside was our No. 1 goal.”

It showed.

Schneider scored 10 first-quarter points – all on layups inside – including a bucket with seven seconds left that gave LHS a 20-18 lead to end the quarter.

While Seaman’s tallest player, Richard Oppitz, also was listed at 6-7, there was a clear height discrepancy between him and Schneider, who had his way with the smaller Vikings despite drawing double teams from their guards.

Seaman (4-5) then tried switching its defense to a 2-3 zone in the second quarter to pack the inside.

Schneider’s response?

The senior stepped outside and hit three jumpers, including a three-pointer from the top of the key. Schneider shot 9-for-12 from the field in the first half, and his only misses were on putback attempts.

“They were laying off, and I mean, if you’re just going to lay off, I’m going to have to knock it down,” he said matter-of-factly.

Schneider’s jumper just inside the arc at the 6:54 mark of the second quarter put the Lions up 22-20. Lawrence led the final 23 minutes of the game.

“John was on fire,” Scheibler said. “We had to get him the ball. Shooting threes. He hit everything. When he does that, it opens the game up for us.”

It certainly helped out Scheibler.

The senior guard played his best game after sitting out the first four contests of the season, scoring a season-high 13 points. Vinoverski, who missed much of the regular season with a collapsed lung, also played key minutes and tallied two points.

Dorian Green added 16 points for the Lions, who evened their record at 5-5.

For the better part of two months, Davis patiently has waited for the pieces of his team to fall in place. He may be close to seeing that come to fruition.

“I knew for awhile that in the early season, we were going to struggle for awhile,” Davis said. “But I really felt like as the season came around, we were going to get better. We saw a glimpse of that tonight. And it was fun, it was good.”

Just how good remains to be seen. LHS will get its stiffest test of the season in the second round tonight when it takes on one of the top teams in the state – undefeated Highland Park.