Lawrence High junior Trey Quartlebaum (15) shoots during a 6A quarterfinal loss to Blue Valley Northwest, Thursday March 8, at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita. Blue Valley Northwest beat LHS, 65-37.

WICHITA — Lawrence High’s boys basketball players tried everything they could to attack Blue Valley Northwest’s zone defense. They fired away 3s. They tried to drive through the lane. They attempted midrange jumpers.

None of it worked.

In the first round of the Class 6A state quarterfinals, the Lions had trouble producing much offense in a 65-37 season-ending loss at Wichita State’s Koch Arena. Through the first three quarters, they were shooting 22 percent from the field.

The difficulty in playing BV Northwest’s hybrid 2-1-2 zone defense is all of the length. Playing high on the floor, it’s extremely difficult to set up the offense with 6-foot-9 senior Parker Braun in the middle at the top of the 3-point arc. The top-seeded Huskies (19-4) grabbed 10 steals, deflecting passes on the perimeter.

“It’s hard to play around,” Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. “When you’re out of sync and not even getting to what you do, advantage them. That’s a big advantage.”

Despite only making one field goal in the first eight minutes, LHS junior guard Savonni Shazor cut the Huskies’ lead to 17-13 with a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter. Then the Lions committed three straight turnovers and that’s all the Huskies needed to jumpstart their potent offense and start an 11-0 run.

After Lawrence junior forward Brett Chapple ended the run with an acrobatic layup, BVNW’s Max Johnson swished a buzzer-beating 3 in front of the Lions’ bench to enter halftime.

“It was just hard to find open gaps and find the open man,” Chapple said. “We kind of rushed a lot of shots. We just weren’t taking our time.”

As much as the Lions, who finished the season with a 13-10 record, tried to build a comeback in the second half, they couldn’t sustain momentum. Shazor (10 points, 3-for-5 shooting) scored four straight points in the middle of the third quarter, but then the offense went scoreless for three minutes.

In the closing minutes, LHS junior guard Clarence King, who scored a team-high 13 points, drilled three straight 3-pointers, including a step-back shot with some sizzle. Senior guard Van Dave Jacob (eight points) added another triple.

Senior forward Anthony Selden took an elbow to the nose in the opening minutes of the first quarter, forcing him to the bench for a few minutes. Lewis said it was like the entire team felt it.

“We were on the ropes early,” the coach said. “We needed the smelling salts to wake up and get going and we just never did quite get going again.”

Northwest senior Joseph Pleasant, signed to Abilene Christian, scored a game-high 21 points by playing even bigger than his 6-foot-6 frame. The Huskies are undefeated against Kansas teams — all four losses to schools from Missouri — and haven’t had any games decided by fewer than 14 points since Jan. 18.

On the long walk to the locker room afterward, a few LHS players wiped tears from their eyes. When they talked to each other, they were proud of the way they rallied at the end of the season to earn the program’s fourth straight trip to state.

They just wish they would’ve put up a better fight against the Huskies.

“Our shots weren’t falling for the longest time. It felt like forever,” LHS senior guard Jake Rajewski said. “That’s not really exactly the way I wanted to go out.”

Lawrence (37)

Anthony Selden 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Chapple 1-1 2-2 4, Trey Quartlebaum 1-8 0-0 2, Jake Rajewski 0-4 0-0 0, Savonni Shazor 3-5 1-3 10, Clarence King 5-11 0-0 13, Van Dave Jacob 2-4 3-4 8, Zeke Mayo 0-3 0-0 0, Eric Galbreath 0-1 0-0 0, Steven Strickland 0-0 0-2 0, Willie Dotson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-37 6-13 37.

Blue Valley Northwest (65)

Christian Braun 4-11 4-5 12, Max Johnson 1-5 0-0 3, Samuel Ward 5-8 0-0 11, Parker Braun 2-5 0-2 4, Joseph Pleasant 9-13 3-4 21, Jack Chapman 5-5 0-0 12, Matthew Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Hungerford 0-1 0-0 0, Nicholas Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Lind 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Burger 1-1 0-0 2, Andrew Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 7-11 65.

Lawrence 6 9 6 16–37

Northwest 12 19 14 20–65

3-point goals: Lawrence 7-20 (Shazor 3, King 3, Jacob); Northwest 4-8 (J. Chapman 2, Johnson, Ward). Fouled out: None. Turnovers: Lawrence 15, Northwest 9.