Participants at the Lawrence High boys basketball camp run through a drill Monday, June 30, 2014, at LHS.

Participants at the Lawrence High boys basketball camp run through a drill Monday, June 30, 2014, at LHS.

Lawrence High boys basketball coach Mike Lewis issues instructions during camp on Monday, June 30, 2014, at LHS.

Nobody would describe Lawrence High’s boys basketball team as one with a lot of size and physicality.

That doesn’t mean the Lions have any problems facing big, strong opponents.

The Lions played at the Creighton University team camp and the Bill Self team camp this month and proved to others and themselves they can handle mismatches.

“I think we all played really well. We played against some great competition,” junior point guard Justin Roberts said. “We were always outsized and outmuscled, but we were able to fight the whole time. We ended up going 4-3 in KU team camp, and I think we lost two games, 4-2 or 5-2, at Creighton team camp.

“I think we battled really hard, and it showed that we’re not willing to just give up. We just keep playing no matter what’s in front of us.”

With self-imposed state-title-or-bust aspirations for next season, the Lions have entered offseason workouts with energy and enthusiasm. After Monday’s 90-minute workout, several players continued playing in another gym.

All of the extra work has already paid off on the court against other teams.

When the varsity squad traveled to the Creighton camp, the junior varsity team went to the KAMO Hoops Tournament and won the JV division.

The Lions took three teams to the KU camp: large varsity, small varsity and JV, and all played well.

“I felt like all three groups had a good level of competition in most of the games,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said. “We’ve had good wins, had some tough losses where we were able to learn from them. But we really, as a group, we’re not worried about the wins and losses in the summer. We’re just worried about getting better.”

About 40 to 50 boys are showing up for the twice-a-week practices, and the returners have already shown improvement from when the season ended at the beginning of March. During the practices, they’ve been working in drills and in fast-paced scrimmages.

At the team camps, Lewis gave the players a loose environment while also giving them a chance to play different positions and with different players.

Lewis is pleased with everything his team is accomplishing throughout the summer, especially from the team camps.

“I like our routine in the summer,” Lewis said. “I like that our guys are able to commit to a couple weekends of basketball. I really feel like it gives us good momentum going into next year, just to have the guys play some good competitive games. All in all, I’m very happy with what’s going on.”