Lawrence High players celebrate with the student section after the Lions defeated Shawnee Mission Northwest, 65-44, on Saturday evening in the sub-state championship game at LHS. With the win, the Lions will now head back to the state tournament in Wichita.

Anthony Harvey Jr., senior guard for Lawrence High’s Class 6A state-tournament-bound boys basketball team, likes to talk. Quiet’s not his thing. That goes double for quiet bus rides.

After Harvey contributed 11 points and five rebounds to Lawrence High’s 65-44 victory Saturday night against Shawnee Mission Northwest in The Jungle, he looked back on the Lions finishing as state runner-up last season.

“It’s definitely motivation,” Harvey said. “We never want that feeling again, ride back empty-handed. Nobody really remembers second place. We’re just trying to put No. 108 (all sports) up there on the state-title banner. Second place is not enough for us. We work too hard. We want to be remembered. We’re going for first.”

The Lions (20-2) weren’t about to be denied a return trip to Wichita. They turned up the heat on the Cougars (9-13) from the start and took leads of 13-5 after the first quarter, 31-15 at the half and 50-26 heading into the fourth period.

The Lions defended aggressively, consistently forced turnovers and dominated the boards. Not only that, they had a blast doing it. Senior Fred Brou (10 points) threw down a pair of one-handed dunks in the third quarter, one directly over a defender who was whistled for a foul on the play.

“That amps me up,” Harvey said, “especially when he dunks on a kid, gets an and-one, and then he makes the free throw. I want to see the film of everyone’s reaction, because I believe even coach (Mike) Lewis smiled after that one.”

Harvey triggered plenty of smiles in The Jungle as well when he punctuated a baseline drive with a Derrick Rose Euro-step reverse layup coming out of a timeout after the Cougars had trimmed their deficit from 26 points to 18 early in the fourth quarter, thanks to hot shooting from Ottawa University-bound senior Ferdinand Handy.

“I saw the reverse was there, it’s the last game at home, so I might as well get the crowd on its feet,” Harvey said.

He did.

LHS was able to execute the blowout despite not getting a strong shooting night from Toledo-bound point guard Justin Roberts, a four-year starter who scored 10 points. Senior Price Morgan, headed to Air Force Academy, where he will play football, continued his strong season on the hardwood with a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Brou and Kobe Buffalomeat (eight points) helped Morgan to dominate the interior, and Jackson Mallory added eight points.

LHS turned turnovers into fast breaks and in the half-court did a nice job of moving the ball faster than the defense could keep up.

“We know our roles,” Harvey said. “We know what we have to do. We look inside, try to go inside as much as we can, try to get the bigs some money.”

Brou, Harvey and Morgan display far more confidence in their basketball abilities than was the case a year ago, and it has resulted in greatly improved play.

“This is a balanced attack, knowing we don’t have to rely on just a couple of players,” Lewis said.

Lawrence takes its balanced attack to the eight-team state tournament in Wichita, which runs Thursday through Saturday.

SHAWNEE MISSION NORTHWEST (44)

Ferdinand Handy 7 0-0 17, Jamey Fisher 1 0-0 2, Austin Sanders 2 1-2 6, Jalen LyDay 0 0-0 0, Dylan Dirks 2 8-10 12, Christian Ghilardi 2 0-0 5, Jaylen Love 1 0-0 2, Noah Kendall 0 0-2 0, Zach Smith 0 0-0 0, Colton Skeens 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-14 44.

LAWRENCE (65)

Justin Roberts 5 0-0 10, Price Morgan 5 5-5 15, Fred Brou 3 4-7 10, Anthony Harvey, Jr., 5 1-2 11, Jackson Mallory 2 2-3 8, Braden Solko 0 0-0 0, Noah Butler 0 2-2 2, Kobe Buffalomeat 2 4-4 8, Brett Chapple 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 19-24 65.

SM Northwest 5 10 11 18 — 44

Lawrence 13 18 19 15 — 65

Three-point goals: Shawnee Mission Northwest 5 (Handy 3, Sanders, Ghilardi); Lawrence 2 (Mallory 2).