Lawrence’s Brett Chapple (12) goes up for a shot against Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon in the Class 6A state tournament opener in Koch Arena. Lawrence beat Manhattan 51-44 in overtime.

Wichita ? Staring at the potential end of his high school basketball career Wednesday, Lawrence High senior Kobe Buffalomeat called for the ball on every possession in the fourth quarter.

When the Lions needed someone to carry the offense, Buffalomeat accepted the challenge, delivering a 51-44 overtime victory over Manhattan at Wichita State’s Koch Arena.

The 6-foot-7, 285-pound center, with one of the most unique names in sports, scored 11 straight LHS points during the fourth quarter and overtime. Buffalomeat used his height to shoot over defenders and his muscle to draw fouls, or in other words, he was unstoppable.

“There’s no way I was going to let that game slip away,” Buffalomeat said afterward, exhausted following a game-high 23 points and seven-rebound performance on 9-of-10 shooting.

The Lions will face sixth-seeded Blue Valley North (16-6) in the state semifinals at 4:45 p.m. Friday.

It’s the third straight season that the Lions have advanced to the Final Four, the first three-peat into the state semifinals since 1983-85.

And Buffalomeat was the main reason the Lions avoided slipping when on the brink of elimination, trading leads with No. 2-seed Manhattan (18-5) twice in the last four minutes.

“I couldn’t contain my emotions in (the locker room),” Buffalomeat said. “Very excited. Too exhausted to get up and do anything else, but I’m definitely happy that we got that off our shoulders.”

Despite Buffalomeat’s heroics, which were needed after a 13-point first-half lead disappeared with a four-point third quarter, the Lions needed the ball to bounce their way at the end of regulation.

With the game tied, the seventh-seeded Lions (16-7) held the ball for the final two minutes of regulation, but turned the ball over and sophomore Brett Chapple committed a foul diving for a loose ball with 1.4 seconds remaining.

“I was really mad,” said Chapple, who had nine points and eight rebounds. “I was crossing my fingers when he was shooting free throws.”

Lawrence coach Mike Lewis called a timeout to ice the shooter — “(Lewis) told us to believe in the last timeout and we did,” Buffalomeat said. The Lions lost on a similar play earlier this season against Liberty (Mo.) because of a foul in the final seconds on a loose ball.

But this time, Manhattan missed both free throws and the Lions could breathe once again.

“The adrenaline was there after the missed free throws,” Lewis said.

Given a second chance, the Lions made the most of it in overtime. Buffalomeat scored on the first two possessions, scoring on free throws and a picture-perfect entry pass from senior Jackson Mallory (five points, four rebounds, six assists).

Holding onto a two-point lead, Buffalomeat turned his attention to the defensive end. He rejected a shot at the rim and grabbed two straight defensive rebounds in between scoring on another layup on a pass from Mallory for a four-point advantage.

“He does that all of the time in practice,” Chapple said of Buffalomeat. “No one can guard him because he’s just so big. We know we can score if we just feed him.”

The Lions never trailed again with Mallory and Clarence King combining to make six of eight free throws while Manhattan couldn’t connect on a couple of deep shots.

LAWRENCE (51)

Braden Solko 1-4 0-0 2, Brett Chapple 4-5 1-1 9, Clarence King 1-5 5-9 7, Jackson Mallory 1-7 3-4 5, Kobe Buffalomeat 9-10 5-5 23, Austin Miller 1-6 0-0 3, Noah Butler 0-1 2-4 2, Trey Quartlebaum 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Selden 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-40 16-23 51.

MANHATTAN (44)

Luke Saville 0-4 0-0 0, Trevor Hudgins 6-15 6-10 19, Ian Trapp 0-2 0-0 0, Tommy Ekart 4-10 0-0 9, Cade Roberts 2-4 3-9 7, Nathan Awbrey 2-2 1-2 5, Joshua Haus 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 16-39 10-21 44.

Lawrence 14 12 4 9 12 — 51

Manhattan 5 10 13 11 5 — 44

Three-point goals: Lawrence 1-12 (Miller); Manhattan 2-8 (Hudgins, Ekart). Fouled out: Roberts. Turnovers: Lawrence 13, Manhattan 6.