The Kansas Cagers' Jacob Rajewski (12) and Pumas White's Zach Taylor (34) dive after a loose ball during the 15 and under gold third place game in the Sunflower Showdown Sunday at the Lawrence Sports Pavilion. The Cagers prevailed in double overtime.

The 6A state runner-up Lawrence High boys basketball team will have some key pieces to replace after going 23-2 last season, but LHS senior point guard Justin Roberts felt a little more at ease Sunday about the program’s future.

Roberts was on hand to watch the Kansas Cagers 15-and-under team — which includes LHS sophomores Jacob Rajewski and Jackson Hoy, and freshmen Noah Butler, Trey Quartlebaum and Brett Chapple — take third place in the gold division at the Sunflower Showcase AAU basketball tournament after a 72-67 double overtime victory over Pumas White.

“It’s great to watch them play,” Roberts said. “I know that we have a good class coming in, so I know our JV, freshmen and sophomore teams will be pretty stacked. The future is bright for Lawrence High.”

Kansas Cagers' Noah Butler (32) takes the ball strong to the basket, getting past Pumas White defenders Tyson Cathy (30) and Macaleb Hughes during the 15 and under gold third place game in the Sunflower Showdown Sunday at the Lawrence Sports Pavilion. The Cagers prevailed in double overtime.

Butler netted 21 points after making a living at the free-throw line, sinking 11-of-14 from the charity stripe and shooting 5-

of-12 from the field. The LHS freshman made back-to-back buckets to tie it up at 53-53 with five minutes left in regulation and then made a driving layup and two free throws in the two-minute double overtime period.

Butler did not play in the Cagers’ games on Thursday and Friday, as he suited up for Kansas City’s Run GMC Power Group team. The power group team is designed to give freshmen the chance to be looked at to possibly play for KC Run GMC’s 15-and-under team when they become of age. Butler enjoyed his time playing for the Power Group team in Kansas City, as well as with the Cagers Saturday and Sunday.

“I’ve known these guys for about four years now, and we’re starting to build chemistry,” Butler said of Lawrence High teammates. “When we get on the basketball court, we know what other’s tendencies are.”

Butler’s fellow LHS freshmen teammates came up big down the stretch as well. Quartlebaum hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with the Cagers down two with 1:34 to go in regulation. The Cagers point guard nearly sealed the game with a steal and two free throws to put them up three with 29.6 seconds left, but a banked 3-pointer by Pumas White’s Derrick Hyde with Quartlebaum’s hand in his face sent it to overtime.

Kansas Cagers' Brett Chapple (00) twists as he gets a shot off over Pumas White's Tyson Cathy during the 15 and under gold third place game in the Sunflower Showdown Sunday at the Lawrence Sports Pavilion. The Cagers prevailed in double overtime.

After being one of the Cagers’ top scoring threats for the first three days of the tournament, Chapple struggled to get the ball in the bucket, going 0-4 from the field. The Cagers’ forward did not let his shooting woes frustrate him, though, as he pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds and sank three free throws in double overtime.

“If shots aren’t falling, you just have to find a way to get involved with the game by either defense or rebounding,” Chapple said.

The Cagers posted a 6-2 record over the four-day tournament with their only losses coming to Pumas White in triple overtime on Thursday and to the Kansas All-Stars in Saturday’s semifinals.

“I feel good about the win because in the end, we had to come together as a team to win,” Quartlebaum said. “It wasn’t like one-on-one. We had to come together.”

The tandem of Quartlebaum and Butler showed some flashes of similarity to that of Roberts and Anthony Bonner on Sunday. Quartlebaum dribbled the ball to the left wing and threw crisp pass to Butler for a near alley oop. Butler went up to throw it down, but couldn’t quite convert as he got fouled.

Roberts making progress with rehab

While Roberts enjoyed watching the young group of Lions compete for the Cagers, the senior point guard will still have to wait a while to personally get back on the court.

Roberts tore his ACL in April while playing for KC Run GMC’s 17-and-under team in an AAU tournament in New Orleans, but the rehabilitation process has been a smooth one thus far.

“It’s going really well,” Roberts said. “I’m about two and a half to three months in and I’ll start running and jumping in about three weeks.”

So when can the Lions expect to see Roberts running the show again at the point?

“I’ll probably be back by December,” Roberts said.