Minutes after a jubilant Lawrence High boys basketball team emerged from the visiting locker room with a first round sub-state upset victory over Leavenworth High on Thursday night, Lions point guard Dorian Green waxed nostalgic. He remembered the first day of tryouts little more than three months ago.

“I walk in, and Coach (Chris) Davis says, ‘We’ve got a good team,'” Green recalled. “He said ‘We might struggle at times, but at the end, we’re going to make a run.’ He said this from the first day, and it’s carrying over to right now.”

Davis may not get paid to tell fortunes, but his prognostication was right on the money.

A rocky season finally on the upswing now has No. 7 seed Lawrence just one game from reaching the state tournament despite a 10-11 record.

Coincidentally, the Lions will face No. 6 seed Olathe North – the very team LHS beat 21â2 weeks ago to begin its marvelous run – at 7:45 tonight in Lawrence’s gym.

Following the Lions’ first-round victory, Davis said he watched four Eagles games on tape, including Olathe North’s sub-state victory over Free State High. And he said he noticed the Eagles (11-10) appeared to be a different team now than they were in mid-February.

Just like his Lions.

“When we played them last time, their outside guys weren’t hitting,” Davis said. “Against Free State, they were hitting shots from the perimeter. We’re going to have to play better than we did last time, but we can play better.”

In the teams’ first matchup, LHS – which entered with a four-game losing streak – scrapped and clawed its way to a 60-56 victory over the Eagles, beginning a string of four victories in five games. Green finished with 26 points, and John Schneider added 19.

LHS guard Lance Kilburn said he learned a few things from the game that began tipping the scales in Lawrence’s favor.

“I’ve realized that we can play with about anyone,” Kilburn said. “We’re a real good team if we just stick together. We’ve got probably the best guard in the conference (Green) and probably the best post man in the conference (Schneider).”

Tonight, the Lions’ fan base will have the chance to cheer on its team in the home white uniforms one last time – an opportunity Davis said his players desperately wanted when sub-state hosts were announced months ago.

And even though the Lions have the worst remaining seed in any bracket in Class 6A, Schneider isn’t too concerned.

“Everybody looks at our record, and they probably underestimate us, which is fine with us,” Schneider said. “If you look past us, we’re just going to hit you in the mouth and come out with a win like we did against Leavenworth.”