TOPEKA — There were times when nothing was going right for Lawrence High’s boys basketball team in its season opener against Topeka on Friday.

There were 16 turnovers in the first half. Issues with foul trouble. Shots weren’t dropping.

At least that’s how it went until the fourth quarter. Trailing by as many as 12 points, Lawrence continued to pick up stops on defense and eventually rallied for a 44-39 comeback victory at the Dungeon.

Tied with under a minute remaining, LHS junior Savonni Shazor dished a pass from the middle of the lane to junior point guard Trey Quartlebaum on the left wing, who swished a 3-pointer. Senior Steven Strickland picked up a defensive rebound on the ensuing possession, setting up Shazor to close out the game with free throws.

Topeka was held without a field goal for the final seven minutes, missing its last six shots.

“We just needed a little bit of something,” Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. “A momentum play to get us over the edge. I just liked the way we competed there toward the end.”

Down by a point in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Lions were forced to play defense for a two-minute stretch, which ended with a charge drawn by Shazor.

On the next possession, Shazor was fouled and tied the score with a free throw. In his first start, which he called “nerve-wracking” in the beginning, the 6-foot-6 wing had eight points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Lawrence finished the final seven minutes on a 15-2 spurt, which included six points from junior forward Brett Chapple (team-high nine points, nine rebounds). He scored on a put-back with 1:33 left, giving Lawrence its first lead since early in the first quarter.

“We were just focusing on one possession at a time,” said Quartlebaum, who was plagued with foul trouble for most of the night along with senior Anthony Selden. “We chipped little by little to get back in the game.”

Playing without injured guard Clarence King, who is recovering from a broken kneecap, the Lions committed 10 turnovers in the first quarter — which Lewis called “unacceptable.” Senior guard Jake Rajewski drained a pair of 3-pointers, but they couldn’t find a way to grab momentum.

Topeka’s starting guards, Larry White, Da’Vonshai Harden and Ky Thomas, combined for 13 steals with their ability to jump in front of passing lanes like the best NFL cornerbacks.

Even with all of the disappointment of turnovers and foul trouble in the first half, the Lions stayed within reach because of their zone defense, which they took to another level in the fourth quarter.

“We just turned it up,” Shazor said of the defense. “We decided we wanted to win and we got it.”

Lawrence (44)

Anthony Selden 2-5 0-0 4, Brett Chapple 3-5 3-5 9, Trey Quartlebaum 2-9 1-2 7, Jake Rajewski 2-4 1-2 7, Savonni Shazor 2-3 4-8 8, Zeke Mayo 1-4 0-0 2, Steven Strickland 3-6 1-2 7. Totals 15-36 10-19 44.

Topeka (39)

Larry White 5-14 0-0 11, Da’Vonshai Harden 5-10 0-2 13, Ky Thomas 0-12 3-6 3, Marques Hidalgo 1-5 0-1 3, Key’Andre Smith 2-3 0-0 4, King Sutton 1-1 1-2 3, Carlos Esquibel 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 15-48 4-11 39.

Lawrence 10 5 10 19 — 44

Topeka 15 8 12 4 — 39

Three-point goals: Lawrence 4-11 (Quartlebaum 2, Rajewski 2); Topeka 5-20 (Harden 3, White). Fouled out: Selden, Smith, Sutton. Turnovers: Lawrence 21, Topeka 10.