Lawrence High senior Price Morgan is lifted up by LHS students who rushed the court following the Lions' 75-60 win over Free State in the City Showdown game at FSHS on Friday evening.

About a minute after the final buzzer sounded in the boys basketball City Showdown on Friday, Lawrence High senior Price Morgan was lifted into the air by a few of his classmates.

After Morgan carried the Lions to a 75-60 victory over Free State at FSHS, it was only fair that everyone else returned the favor, especially on his birthday.

Morgan, a 6-foot-4 forward and Air Force football signee, made a pair of free throws in the first four seconds and never looked back on his way to a team-high 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Whether it was post moves in the paint with a few spins, mid-range jumpers or shots at the free-throw line, he was unstoppable.

In the first quarter, Morgan scored eight points, and it was only his warm-up act. He scored 10 straight LHS points in the first five minutes of the second quarter. His teammates kept feeding him the ball in the high post, and he continued to deliver with buckets, sending the Lions to a 33-20 halftime lead.

“I went home before the game and got a couple of shots up in the yard,” Morgan said. “It just felt good coming out. As the night kept going, I was like, ‘Oh, this could be good for me.’ It seemed to pay off all right.”

Morgan is an undersized forward in the Sunflower League, but he makes up for it with his strength on drives down the lane. When his jump shot is falling, he only becomes more dangerous.

“He starts getting into a rhythm, and he’s a very capable outside shooter,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said. “He was, just going to get after it and it was going to take a team to stop him.”

Of course, Morgan’s big night didn’t stop in the first half. After junior Jackson Mallory and senior Anthony Harvey drilled three-pointers to open the third quarter, Morgan scored six straight points, helping the Lions (18-2, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A) to a 20-point lead.

Morgan’s teammates weren’t surprised by his shooting touch but they were happy to sit back and watch him work his magic.

“Just get him the ball as much as possible and let him do his thing,” said Mallory, who had seven points, seven rebounds and six assists. “He’s not the biggest big man in the league, but he’s definitely the toughest and definitely has the most heart.”

Free State coach Sam Stroh added: “That kid is a flat-out winner. He took it right to us. Simple as that.”

Along with Morgan, the Lions wanted to start fast. It’s been a problem for them in the past few games, and they responded by scoring on 10 of their first 12 possessions, racing to a quick 21-10 lead. Senior point guard Justin Roberts scored seven of his 18 points in the first quarter.

“It really intensifies the game and our defense just turns up that much of a notch,” Harvey said of the start. “Everybody is screaming, yelling and we’re playing hard defense, that’s a hard team to play against.”

The Firebirds (14-6, ranked No. 9) found an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter, cutting their deficit to eight points with 2:18 remaining on a free throw from senior Chrision Wilburn. Senior Hunter Gudde scored 10 of his game-high 27 points in the final eight minutes, and senior point guard Kristian Rawls added six of his 14 points, trying to fight back.

“I think we all just felt like we don’t have any more chances after this, so we might as well put everything on the floor now,” Gudde said. “We just kind of started too late. We didn’t start until the end of the third quarter.”

But the Lions made 25 of their 27 free throws and refused to create any extra drama in the final minutes. LHS senior Fred Brou put the final touches on the victory with a one-handed slam on a drive along the baseline in the final 90 seconds, giving Morgan his dream ending on his birthday.

“Last night, I was like, ‘I have to come out and have myself a pretty good game. This is my last chance in front of this crowd,'” Morgan said. “It turned out to be OK.”

LAWRENCE (75)

Justin Roberts 5-13 7-8 18, Price Morgan 10-15 6-6 26, Fred Brou 4-8 0-0 8, Anthony Harvey 2-4 8-9 14, Jackson Mallory 2-4 2-2 7, Kobe Buffalomeat 0-0 2-2 2, Noah Butler 0-1 0-0 0, Braden Solko 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Chapple 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Trey Quartlebaum 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-45 25-27 75.

FREE STATE (60)

Kristian Rawls 3-6 7-9 14, Chrision Wilburn 0-3 1-2 1, Jay Dineen 0-1 0-2 0, Jacob Pavlyak 2-5 0-0 5, Hunter Gudde 9-17 8-10 27, Sloan Thomsen 1-3 0-0 3, Shannon Cordes 2-6 0-2 5, Darian Lewis 1-1 0-0 2, Drew Tochtrop 0-1 0-0 0, Garrett Lunistra 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-45 16-25 60.

Lawrence 21 12 17 25 — 75

Free State 11 9 13 27 — 60

Three-point goals: Lawrence 4-10 (Harvey 2, Roberts, Mallory); Free State 6-18 (Rawls, Pavlyak, Gudde, Thomsen, Cordes, Lunistra) Fouled out: Butler. Turnovers: Lawrence 5, Free State 11.