Free State senior Chrision Wilburn, left, defends Lawrence High senior Justin Roberts, right, while Roberts eyes the basket during their game Friday evening at LHS.

The City Showdown is all about momentum, and Lawrence High’s boys basketball team had all of it in the second half on Friday.

Rebounds started bouncing in the right spots for the Lions. They won races for loose balls. And most of all, shots started dropping in a 79-65 victory over Free State in the school’s home opener at LHS.

The Lions shot a blistering 68 percent from the floor in the second half (15-for-22) and never allowed the Firebirds to pull any closer than seven points in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t play our best offensively or defensively in the first half,” LHS senior point guard Justin Roberts said. “We knew we were going to come out and play a lot better. We weren’t worried in the locker room.”

After Free State senior forward Chrision Wilburn swished a jumper to open the third quarter, the Lions responded with a 14-1 run over the next four minutes. Roberts scored eight points in the spurt, senior forward Price Morgan added four points, and senior forward Fred Brou added a two-handed slam, assisted from Roberts.

Every time the Firebirds (2-1) answered with a bucket, the Lions found a way to score and fire up their packed crowd. Senior guard Anthony Harvey hit a three-pointer right in front of the student section, Roberts snuck a pass to a wide-open junior forward Kobe Buffalomeat for a layup and Morgan converted on a layup-and-the-foul.

“The momentum just kind of got on our side,” Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. “I just like the way our guys competed. We competed OK in the first half. But the second half, we just had a different feel about us.”

Trailing by six points at halftime, the Lions (5-1, ranked No. 7 in Class 6A) relied on their veterans in the second half. Roberts, a four-year starter, scored a game-high 27 points. Morgan sat for long stretches of the first half in foul trouble, but he never lost his rhythm, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the second half.

“I knew this was my last game against Free State at our house, and I wanted to leave my mark, whatever it happened to be,” said Morgan, who shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. “Yeah, it’s tough getting into foul trouble, that’s basketball. But I think a lot of guys did a great job of finding me in the post.”

In the first half, Free State dominated on the glass and turned offensive rebounds into points. Wilburn scored four points in the first quarter, including a layup-and-the-foul bucket off an offensive rebound.

Free State junior forward Sloan Thomsen shined in the second quarter, scoring nine points in the period with three putbacks in the paint and drilling a three-pointer after an offensive rebound to help the Firebirds to a 38-33 advantage at half.

“I thought defensively we were pretty solid,” FSHS coach Sam Stroh said of the first half. “We hit some shots. I thought we kind of weathered the environment and the storm. We made them call the first timeout. Heck, we even responded well coming out of half. We hit the shot we wanted. Then after that, it kind of got ugly. But we’ve got some time to get better.”

In the fourth quarter, the Firebirds looked on the verge of a run after senior point guard Kristian Rawls scored four straight points, and senior forward Hunter Gudde grabbed a steal and dribbled down the court to drain a long jumper with his foot on the three-point line.

But a minute later, Morgan found Brou with a hi-lo pass in the paint, and Brou flushed it for a one-handed slam and a 73-64 lead with three minutes left.

Brou completed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and junior guard Jackson Mallory added five points, seven rebounds and five assists.

“I just think we buckled in and had better spacing on defense,” Lewis said. “I just think we had a better nose for the ball, and sometimes in games the ball just goes your way a little bit more. I think it went our way a little bit more in the second half.”

FREE STATE (65)

Kristian Rawls 2-7 3-4 7, Chrision Wilburn 5-8 4-5 14, Sloan Thomsen 5-10 0-1 12, Jacob Pavlyak 1-3 0-0 3, Hunter Gudde 4-9 5-9 13, Jay Dineen 3-7 2-2 9, Shannon Cordes 1-5 2-2 5, Drew Tochtrop 0-0 0-0 0, Darian Lewis 0-1 0-0 0, Simon McCaffrey 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-52 16-23 65.

LAWRENCE (79)

Justin Roberts 10-17 4-6 27, Price Morgan 7-7 6-8 20, Fred Brou 5-9 2-10 12, Anthony Harvey Jr. 3-5 1-2 9, Jackson Mallory 1-6 2-4 5, Kobe Buffalomeat 2-3 0-0 4, Braden Solko 1-2 0-0 2, Austin Miller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-50 15-30 79.

Free State 16 22 15 12 — 65

Lawrence 14 19 26 20 — 79

Three-point goals: Free State 5-17 (Thomsen 2, Pavlyak, Dineen, Cordes); Lawrence 6-15 (Roberts 3, Harvey 2, Mallory). Turnovers: Free State 8, Lawrence 10.