photo by: Darryl Woods/810 Varsity

LHS senior Trey Quartlebaum drives past a Park Hill South defender during the team's 62-51 loss in the 810 Varsity Tipoff Classic Saturday afternoon at Liberty High School.

LIBERTY, Mo. – After an electric first quarter between two of the highest ranked programs in Kansas and Missouri, Lawrence High (No. 2 in Class 6A) couldn’t shrink the 4-point margin in it’s 62-51 loss to Park Hill South (No. 5 in Class 5) at Liberty High School.

A late first-quarter steal let the Wildcats pull away by a basket, and Lawrence never recovered during the 810 Varsity Tipoff Classic.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump, we trailed by 3 or 4 points and just kind of trailed and trailed,” Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. “Needed a few things to go our way, and it didn’t. Some things were clearly under our control that we need to have better control of. Some things were out of our control, we didn’t get to loose balls for whatever reason.”

Sophomore Zeke Mayo was tabbed with the start and opened up scoring with a pair of 3-pointers. Mayo had 12 points by the end of the half with only one miss.

Mayo, along with the rest of the Lions’ upperclassmen, couldn’t continue the sharpshooting start throughout the second half.

As Lawrence began to be fouled more, senior Trey Quartlebaum was able to contribute with four key free throws without a miss to keep the Lions in the highly-contested game.

Savonni Shazor ultimately sustained an injury midway through the fourth quarter. Prior to that, though, Shazor was rolling and had recorded 6 points in the third period alone. Lewis said that he felt like the Lions did a good job of responding to that adversity, as Bryant Graham finished the game with a high-flying dunk.

“I liked our energy, I liked the way the guys stuck together. We faced adversity well today, and we played hard, we just didn’t get it done,” Lewis said.

Mayo’s 6 second-half points tied for the most among the team, as the Lions only made nine field goals on 32 percent shooting. Behind the arc, Lawrence could only net three of its 17 shot attempts.

The Panthers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter by scoring on many of Lawrence’s 14 turnovers.

“It was just an off-shooting night for us, we didn’t have a lot of 50-50 balls that they grabbed and got out on fast breaks,” Mayo said. “Starting next week, we’re going to have to speed up our game a little bit, hustle a lot more, but we’ll be fine.”

Lawrence’s defense couldn’t contain and limit Park Hill South senior guards Lamel Robinson and Desi Williams. Robinson, a Nebraska-Omaha commit, raced right past Lawrence’s backcourt to score a game-high 24 points. Williams, who is bound for Emporia State, netted 18 on a sharpshooting night as well.

“We have a lot of room for improvement. We came and played a Missouri school, they have a lot of guard talent on this side of the border,” Mayo said. “It was a good game, our guards competed pretty well. I think we’ll be able to compete with the Kansas guards, we’re a great team and I think we can build off of this.”

Lewis hopes to use the loss more as a learning experience than a mark on the Lions record.

“You can’t simulate that kind of action in practice,” Lewis said. “You get in and that’s why you play, and that’s why you get into film and figure out a way to get better … you want to win, but at this time of year, we’re going to take it, learn from it and move in a good direction.”

Lawrence (0-1) will face Ruskin in the first round of the Blue Valley tournament at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Lawrence (51)

Zeke Mayo 7-12 2-2 18, Brett Chapple 0-3 0-0 0, Trey Quartlebaum 3-15 4-4 10, Eric Galbreath 2-4 0-0 4, Savonni Shazor 4-7 3-4 12, Willie Dotson 0-4 0-2 0, Mason Quartlebaum 0-5 1-2 1, Bryce Johnson 1-1 0-0 1, Bryant Graham 2-2 0-1 2. Totals 19-53 10-15 51.

Park Hill South (62)

Desi Williams 8-17 1-1 18, Dawson Owens 1-4 2-3 5, Lamel Robinson 9-20 4-5 24, Dylan Brougham 3-4 0-1 6, CJ Lee 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Bell 1-3 0-0 2, Jonathan Thompson 0-0 2-3 2, Garrett Lee 1-2 0-0 3, Malcolm Williams 1-1 0-0 1. Totals 24-52 9-13 62.

Lawrence 20 8 15 8 – 51

Park Hill South 24 8 15 15 – 62

3-point goals: Lawrence 3-17 (Mayo 2, Shazor); Park Hill South 5-15 (Robinson 2, Williams, Owens, Lee). Turnovers: Lawrence 12, Park HIll South 5.