Anthony Buffalomeat, middle, is smothered by a pair of Leavenworth defenders Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011.

Leavenworth ? Lawrence High boys basketball coach Mike Lewis didn’t try to sugarcoat his team’s 70-49 drubbing on Tuesday at Leavenworth.

“We were just bad tonight,” Lewis said.

The Lions didn’t show much energy before the game, perhaps a product of standing and waiting for the Pioneers’ long Senior Night ceremony to end.

Things didn’t get much better when the game started. After senior Garrett Wagner tried to enter the game early in the opening quarter, the scorekeeper realized that Wagner wasn’t listed in the scorebook.

The Lawrence bench was assessed a technical, and you could almost feel the energy leaving the gym.

“When you start so slow and you make a boneheaded move like that, you’re asking for trouble,” Lewis said.

The Pioneers led, 14-4, after a quarter and 30-15 at halftime, in large part thanks to Grant Greenberg’s 11 points and Preston Padgett’s 10. Leavenworth successfully attacked the Lions’ 2-3 zone in a variety of ways, forcing Lewis to abandon it for stretches.

KJ Pritchard led the Lions (7-12) with 21 points. Logan Henrichs added 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Despite the lack of energy on Tuesday, Lewis isn’t worried about his guys waking up for Friday’s city showdown at Free State. Instead, he’s concerned that his team took a step backwards from Friday’s close home loss against Olathe Northwest.

“Basketball’s a game of momentum and energy and enthusiasm, and we didn’t have it from the opening tip,” Lewis said.

The Lions and Firebirds tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Free State.