Lawrence High senior Price Morgan, left, is consoled by the LHS student section after the Lions fell in their state semifinal match up against Wichita Southeast on Friday evening in Wichita.

Lawrence High senior Price Morgan was the last player to walk off of the court following Friday’s 74-61 loss to Wichita Southeast in the Class 6A boys basketball state semifinals.

After the postgame handshakes, Morgan took a deep breath and stared out to the middle of Wichita State’s Koch Arena, wiping tears out of his eyes. One nightmare fourth quarter ended the dream of playing for a state championship.

It was the same pain the Lions felt a year ago when they lost in the state title game. After surpassing most expectations with another trip to the Final Four, senior Anthony Harvey Jr. said it was “the worst feeling in the world.”

The Lions will play Blue Valley Northwest (19-5) in the third-place game at 2 p.m. today.

“I’m proud of all of our guys, just the way we fought,” Morgan said. “I’m going to be able to sleep OK tonight, along with all of the other guys, just knowing we gave everything we had out there.”

The top-seeded Lions (21-3) led for the majority of the contest until the fourth-seeded Golden Buffaloes (20-4) caught fire in the fourth quarter, scoring on 14 of their final 16 possessions, with nine trips to the free-throw line. Southeast senior point guard Jerrick Harding, a magician disguised as a basketball player, scored 18 of his game-high 39 points in the final seven minutes.

Harding, who scored 42 points in the state quarterfinals, is only 17 points from scoring the most points in 6A state tournament history. He gave Southeast its first lead since the second quarter when he drilled back-to-back threes with six minutes left.

Southeast sophomore Isreal Barnes added 27 points, including 19 in the second half. The rest of the team combined for eight points.

“I don’t think you can contain them,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said of Harding and Barnes. “I think you can limit them — maybe get them to score 20 or 25 is a good night defensively. They just are very balanced, and the offense has the advantage. When they put their shoulder down and drive you, most of the time they are going to the free-throw line.”

In the fourth quarter, everything went wrong for the Lions. They couldn’t get stops on defense. Junior Jackson Mallory, the team’s best on-ball defender, fouled out with more than three minutes left. Trying to catch up with shots from the perimeter, the Lions shot 3-of-18 (17 percent) in the final period, outscored 27-11.

“We started to press a little bit, and we started to see it getting away,” Lewis said. “That’s when you start to gamble a little bit and play with that pressure. Sometimes teams let that get that to them, and we let it get away from us. We couldn’t get a basket there to go our direction.”

Mallory, who had 17 points, tied the score, 55-all, with 5:18 left on a three-pointer, assisted by senior point guard Justin Roberts. The Golden Buffaloes responded with an 8-0 run.

With 2:57 left, Roberts cut his team’s deficit to six points with a three, but the Lions only scored one more basket afterward — a putback by junior Kobe Buffalomeat.

“We had a lot of open shots that just didn’t fall. We have nobody else to blame but ourselves for that,” said Roberts, who had 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting. He had his previously-injured shoulder checked out by a trainer for the final minute of the third quarter, adding, “It’s not feeling too good right now, but I’m not going to make excuses.”

In the first half, the Lions found driving lanes to the rim and made up for any missed shots with offensive rebounds. Morgan led the effort with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, using his football instincts to rip the ball out of the air and score through traffic.

Morgan scored six straight points midway through the third quarter to give the Lions their biggest lead of the game, 44-38.

“It hurts. There’s no getting around it,” Lewis said. “But the bigger picture is that we’ve had a heck of a basketball season. We all care about each other, and that doesn’t change. We just wish we would’ve got this win.”

Southeast will face Shawnee Mission North (20-4) in the state title game at 6:15 p.m. today.

WICHITA SOUTHEAST (74)

Israel Barnes 8-21 11-13 27, Juan Manns 1-3 0-0 3, D’Andre Franklin 0-0 1-2 1, Jerrick Harding 12-21 11-14 39, Milan Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Brycen Cobbins 1-3 0-0 2, Richard Reed 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-50 23-29 74.

LAWRENCE (61)

Justin Roberts 5-19 6-7 17, Price Morgan 6-10 4-4 16, Fred Brou 2-4 0-2 4, Anthony Harvey Jr. 1-7 0-0 3, Jackson Mallory 5-12 5-6 17, Braden Solko 0-1 0-0 0, Kobe Buffalomeat 1-3 2-2 4, Noah Butler 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Miller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 17-21 61.

Southeast 17 14 16 27 — 46

Lawrence 17 19 14 11 — 61

Three-point goals: Wichita Southeast 5-14 (Harding 4, Manns); Lawrence 4-23 (Mallory 2, Roberts, Harvey Jr.) Fouled out: Mallory. Turnovers: Wichita Southeast 9, Lawrence 11.