Lawrence High's Justin Roberts (5) and Anthony Bonner (15) watch while Wichita East is awarded the Topeka Invitational Tournament first-place trophy after beating the Lions Saturday in Topeka.

Topeka ? As the final seconds ticked off of the clock in the Topeka Invitational Tournament championship game Saturday, Lawrence High senior Anthony Bonner buried his head into his jersey.

The dream of a perfect season for Lawrence’s boys basketball team ended with an 83-72 loss to Wichita East at Highland Park in a battle of the last two unbeaten teams in Class 6A.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, the Lions tied the game during a 7-0 run in the third quarter. Junior forward Price Morgan started the stretch by following up a missed three-pointer from Ben Rajewski with a one-handed tip slam that brought fans to their feet. Bonner also drilled a three, and junior point guard Justin Roberts made two free throws.

But after LHS tied the game with 3:39 left in third quarter, the Aces (12-0) scored on 14 of their next 20 possessions, mostly behind senior point guard Samajae Jones and 6-foot-5 senior forward Zach Jackson. Jones scored 22 of his team-high 24 points in the second half, helping East to a 69-48 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“It’s real tough, man,” said Bonner, who led the Lions with 24 points, “especially when you’re trying to build momentum. They just keep hitting. I don’t think we defended the best and made it uncomfortable for them to shoot. The result showed it.”

The Lions (12-1) didn’t fold when faced with their first big deficit of the season. They scored on 10 straight possessions over a three-minute span, cutting East’s 19-point lead to just four with 30 seconds remaining. Bonner scored eight points, and senior John Barbee had seven in a 24-7 run.

But the comeback of the year wasn’t in the cards, as the Aces grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds off missed free throws to prevent the Lions from getting any closer.

“We came out with a chip on our shoulders,” said the 6-foot Jones, who scored 15 points in the fourth quarter by using his quickness to get to the rim, then heating up from outside to hit three triples. “I had to hit a couple shots, especially in the paint. I had to get something close to the goal, mid-range, and I just had confidence after that.”

In the first quarter, the Lions struggled to contain East’s 6-foot-5 junior forward Xavier Kelly, a defensive end in football who has committed to Kansas State. Kelly scored eight of his 20 points in the opening period, along with grabbing five rebounds.

After Kelly scored on a layup to open the second quarter, the usually mild-mannered Lions’ coach Mike Lewis called a timeout to yell at his team to focus on post defense.

The result was three straight turnovers by Kelly, and he missed his next four shots. Meanwhile, the Lions found some offense after shooting 3-for-12 in the first quarter. Roberts scored six points in the second quarter, and Morgan added five points to cut the score to 33-30 at halftime.

“Sometimes it takes me getting yelled at to get the point across,” said Morgan, who matched up against Kelly. “After that, it was just a team effort. As a team, we really buckled down on doubling him. I mean, he’s a good player. It took the team to stop him.”

But the Lions couldn’t keep up with the hot-shooting Aces or keep them off of the offensive glass on their misses. Behind a game-high 12 rebounds by Jackson, who completed a double-double with 22 points, the Aces scored 27 second-chance points.

“We were just a little bit off tonight,” Lewis said. “We didn’t rebound the ball real well. Against a good athletic team like Wichita East, you have to be able to box out and react to the ball off of the rim.”

Roberts added 21 points for the Lions, while Morgan completed a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

LAWRENCE (72)

Justin Roberts 6-11 8-8 21, Price Morgan 5-6 1-1 11, Ben Rajewski 1-6 2-2 4, Anthony Bonner 7-16 6-6 24, John Barbee 2-8 6-8 10, Logan Applegate 1-1 0-0 2, Anthony Harvey 0-1 0-0 0, Fred Brou 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson Mallory 0-0 0-0 0, Tae Shorter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 23-25 72.

WICHITA EAST (83)

Samajae Jones 7-16 7-8 24, Terence Caw 0-1 1-2 1, Zach Jackson 6-13 9-11 22, Xavier Kelly 8-16 4-5 20, Isaac Fralin 2-4 0-2 4, Michael McKinney 0-1 0-0 0, Mark Hartley 1-2 3-4 6, Raymond O’Day 2-3 0-0 6, Sam Eckels 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 24-32 83.

Wichita E. 21 12 17 33 — 83

Lawrence 11 19 13 29 — 72

Three-point field goals: Lawrence 5-19 (Bonner 4, Roberts); Wichita East 7-16 (Jones 3, O’Day 2, Hartley, Jackson). Turnovers: Lawrence 15, Wichita East 13.