Lions beat Highland Park, take 3rd in Blue Valley tournament

? Playing games on back-to-back days isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but it was the perfect recipe for Lawrence High’s boys basketball team.

Less than 24 hours following a 26-point loss, the Lions jumped to an early lead against Highland Park and slowly kept adding to it in a 56-40 victory at Blue Valley High on Friday, earning third place in the Blue Valley Shootout.

It was a big change from Thursday, when the Lions suffered an 80-54 loss to Blue Valley in the tournament’s semifinal, Lawrence’s first loss by more than 15 points since Jan. 2013.

The Lions had four players with double-digit point totals — sophomore Clarence King (13), senior Jackson Mallory (11), senior Kobe Buffalomeat (11) and senior Austin Miller (10). King and Buffalomeat were named to the all-tournament team.

“The game is so much easier when you have guys scoring,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said. “Last night we just labored when we tried to score. Tonight we had some different guys step up and hit some good momentum shots for us. That just helps you at both ends.”

The Lions (3-1, ranked No. 10 in Class 6A) had a 9-1 run midway through the first quarter — with five points from sophomore guard Trey Quartlebaum. Then in the final 80 seconds of the period, Mallory drilled a three-pointer and Miller added a layup.

“We played as a team,” Miller said. “We slowed down. We didn’t rush as many shots.”

In the second quarter, Mallory scored five points, including an layup-and-the-foul bucket on a pass in transition from senior guard Braden Solko, who banged up his shoulder on a couple of plays throughout Friday’s game.

Mallory, who shot 1-of-10 from the field during Thursday’s loss, said he simply “slept it off.” He nearly finished with a double-double, recording eight rebounds, five assists and four steals to go along with his 11 points.

“Being on this team for four years and being the young guy until now, they tell you time flies and it really does,” Mallory said. “Just trying to be the leader that I can be and showing these guys what we need to do to win, how we need to play to win.”

The Scots (2-2) threw a variety of defenses against the Lions including a few zones and full-court presses. But they never pulled any closer than seven points in the second half, shooting 33 percent from the field and missing 10 free throws.

Lawrence, which played without sophomore Noah Butler (ankle injury) and junior Anthony Selden, picked up key scoring spurts from King in the third quarter and Buffalomeat in the fourth quarter. Buffalomeat added nine rebounds.

With four games in the first week of the season, the Lions haven’t had much time to fix mistakes through practices, but they are happy with their progress.

“We’ve played some good basketball, some bad basketball,” Lewis said. “We’ve been all over the map. That’s a sign of who we are and I’m OK with that at the moment. Just a good win. You walk out of here feeling good.”

Highland Park (40)

Larry White 4-8 1-2 9, Jacqez Barksdale 0-3 0-0 0, DaVonshai Harden 7-13 0-0 16, Tyree Florence-Patton 1-7 4-6 6, Will White 2-10 2-5 7, Phil White 0-0 1-2 1, Tarrez Davis 0-0 0-2 0, Zay Luarks 0-1 1-2 1, King Sutton 0-0 0-0 0, Quay Akins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-42 9-19 40.

Lawrence (56)

Braden Solko 1-4 0-0 2, Austin Miller 2-6 5-5 10, Clarence King 6-9 1-2 13, Jackson Mallory 2-7 6-7 11, Kobe Buffalomeat 5-8 1-2 11, Trey Quartlebaum 1-3 3-3 5, Brett Chapple 0-0 0-0 0, Van Dave Jacob 1-2 2-2 4, Eric Galbreath 0-1 0-2 0, Savonni Shazor 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Rajewski 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-42 18-23 56.

Highland 6 10 15 9 — 40

Lawrence 15 10 18 13 — 56

Three-point goals: Highland Park 3-18 (Harden 2, W. White); Lawrence 2-14 (Miller, Mallory). Turnovers: Highland Park 12, Lawrence 14.