After starting out 0-for-5 from three-point range, it appeared it might be a struggle for Lawrence High’s boys basketball team to fend off Shawnee Mission Northwest on Tuesday at LHS.

But the Lions quickly snapped out of the funk by draining six consecutive shots from long range and went on to claim a 64-48 victory over the Cougars.

Senior Anthony Bonner and junior Anthony Harvey made back-to-back triples to close out the first quarter before senior Ben Rajewski caught fire to start the second. Rajewski nailed three straight trifectas, including one in which he was fouled for a four-point play.

“The guys were finding me when I was open, and likewise we were finding them, so it just all came together,” Rajewski said.

Rajewski knocked down five of his seven three-point attempts and led all scorers with 18 points.

Shawnee Mission Northwest head coach Mike Rose yelled, “Find him! Find him!” after Rajewski drained a three-pointer in the third quarter, but the Cougars could not account for the Lions’ hot-shooting guard. The Cougars clamped down on Bonner and junior Justin Roberts by face-guarding them for the majority of the contest, but it allowed Rajewski and the rest of the Lions to have open shots.

“That’s the advantage we have that if they try to take away those two,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said, “we’ve got everybody else ready to play ball.”

Lewis said the Lions’ physical defense was a key part to the team’s eighth double-digit win of the season. The Lions had eight steals and five blocked shots to help shut down SMNW.

Junior Price Morgan had two steals and blocks apiece while adding 11 points and four rebounds.

“He gives us so many intangible things and then the statistical things, he is good in a number of ways for us,” Lewis said. “That’s typical Price Morgan. He chips away and does what he needs to do to help our team win.”

The 6-foot 4-inch Morgan gave up some size to SMNW forwards Austin Sanders and Jacob Steinle, but he prided himself on being able to stay aggressive against the Cougars’ post players.

“None of us have to come out and score 20, 30 points a night,” Morgan said. “It’s just doing the little things … It’s just playing hard, which the whole team does, and the result showed for itself.”

LHS improved to 14-1 and a perfect 7-0 in the Sunflower League.

Rajewski let the win over the Cougars sink in a little bit after the game, but he has already done some homework for scouting the Lions’ next opponent. Lawrence High will host Olathe Northwest on Friday.

“They’re going to be scrappy like they always are,” Rajewski said. “They got one kid who I think dropped 28 the other night on Shawnee Mission West, so he’s capable of scoring a lot, and they have good, strong posts, too.”

LAWRENCE (64)

Justin Roberts 3-3 2-2 8, Price Morgan 4-7 3-5 11, Ben Rajewski 6-10 1-1 18, Tae Shorter 1-2 0-0 2, Anthony Bonner 5-11 3-4 15, Fred Brou 2-6 1-2 5, Anthony Harvey 1-6 2-2 5, Logan Appelgate 0-2 0-0 0. Total 22-46 12-16 64.

SMNW (48)

Douglas DeBose 3-6 2-2 8, Clay Drouillard 0-1 1-2 1, Duron Lowe 0-4 0-0 0, Mark Kimotho 1-4 4-4 7, Ferdinand Handy 1-5 0-0 2, Alex Oleson 0-2 0-0 0, Austin Sanders 3-8 1-1 7, Jacob Steinle 2-3 2-2 6, Dylan Dirks 6-11 2-3 17. Total 16-44 12-14 48.

Lawrence 15 19 20 10 – 64

SMNW 13 12 15 8 – 48

Three-point goals: Lawrence 8-18 (Rajewski 5, Bonner 2, Harvey) SMNW 4-8 (Dirks 3, Kimotho). Turnovers: Lawrence 9 SMNW 11.