Stilwell ? Lawrence High boys basketball coach Mike Lewis has not often found himself needing to have his Lions play a zone defense over the past few seasons.

With Lawrence High trailing Lee’s Summit, Missouri, 57-40, early in the third quarter of Friday’s Blue Valley Shootout, Lewis needed to do something to slow the Tigers’ guard combo of Nick Larkin and Blake Spellman. The defensive change from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone slowed down the Tigers, but it was too little, too late, as Lawrence High fell to Lee’s Summit, 77-68.

“It helped us, I think, to contain them a bit more,” Lewis said. “One of their players (Larkin), the little left-handed guard, was really getting to the rim. We thought, ‘Well, let’s try the zone and see how it goes.’ It happened to work out for us and get us back into the game.”

Larkin was 7-for-7 from the field for 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half. The LHS zone took Larkin and the Tigers out of their rhythm, though, and it’s something that Lewis said he might use more often.

“I think on occasion we’re able to pull that out in certain situations and just try to mix it up defensively,” Lewis said.

Although Larkin’s hot shooting stole the show early, the game had a little extra meaning for Lawrence High senior Justin Roberts because of one of the Tigers’ other guards. Roberts has played AAU ball with LSHS senior Blake Spellman with Run GMC, and while he enjoyed matching up against his friend, he was more focused on how to help the Lions learn from their first loss of the season.

“It was nice to play against him,” Roberts said of Spellman, who netted 12 points. “I haven’t seen him in a while, so it was good to see him again. I just didn’t play my game. I didn’t play very well. As a team, we could have played a lot better.”

Roberts scored 17 points on 4-of-12 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Friday marked the first time Roberts had played games on back-to-back days since tearing his left ACL at the beginning of AAU season in April.

“I was a little bit sore,” Roberts said. “Coach tried to limit my minutes so I could get my strength back. I was tired, but that’s no excuse.”

Roberts and fellow senior guard Anthony Harvey helped fuel the Lions’ second-half charge.

“A bunch of guys were talking in the huddle, and we weren’t going to give up,” Harvey said. “We were going to play our hearts out.”

The Lions (4-1) will play against Lee’s Summit West at 4 p.m. Thursday in HyVee Shootout at Avila University.

Lawrence High (68)

Justin Roberts 4-12 6-6 17, Fred Brou 3-8 2-4 8, Anthony Harvey 6-9 0-0 16, Jackson Mallory 1-6 1-2 3, Kobe Buffalomeat 5-10 0-1 10, Braden Solko 0-0 1-2 1, Austin Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Noah Butler 0-0 1-2 1, Price Morgan 4-9 4-7 12. Totals 23-56 15-24 68.

Lee’s Summit (77)

Nick Larkin 8-11 3-3 20, Blake Spellman 3-12 5-5 12, Delshaun Pressly 3-3 0-0 6, Oliver Edwards 1-7 2-5 5, Edward Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Somaj Brewer 1-5 0-0 3, Marquawn Wilson 5-11 5-5 15, Isiah Sears 4-7 7-7 15. Totals 25-54 22-25 77.

Lawrence 10 16 15 27 — 68

Lee’s Summit 21 21 13 22 — 77

Three-point goals: Lawrence 7-22 (Harvey 4, Roberts 3); Lee’s Summit 4-14 (Brewer, Edwards, Larkin, Spellman). Turnovers: Lawrence 12, Lee’s Summit 8.