LHS sophomore Zeke Mayo (2) calls a play in a game against Olathe North, February 1.

OLATHE – Clarence King didn’t even need to see the stat sheet to know that he could have played better in the first half. After just two shot attempts in the first quarter, King went on to score 19 points for the Lawrence High boys basketball team.

It was the theme for the entire LHS squad in its eventual 81-73 loss at Olathe North Friday.

“We let them get ahead by too much, and it’s hard to come back when you’re playing a good team,” King said.

Lawrence (No. 2 in 6A) fell to Olathe North (No. 6 in 6A) in the second battle of ranked Sunflower League teams this week. It marked the team’s first loss since the season opener, as LHS had won 11 consecutive games before Friday’s game at Olathe North.

“I didn’t think we had a whole lot of fight in the fourth quarter when we were down,” Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. “I don’t think we were handling adversity pretty well and I think we could have shown a bit more toughness.”

The Lions (11-2, 4-1 Sunflower League) opened the game on top after a fast first quarter, leading 16-12 in a period that had 31 shots attempts in eight minutes. Trey Quartlebaum had only one miss on five shots with 9 points.

Olathe North (12-2, 5-1) began to take a lead with a 24-point second quarter to enter the half up by 5. The Lions would eventually not be able to retake the lead or tie, and surrender two more 20-point quarters to the Eagles.

The Eagles countered the Lions’ high-scoring offense with a 60 percent clip from the field in the second half as well as going 15 of 19 from the free-throw line. Lawrence outshot Olathe North 33-23 from the field in the second half to nearly match scoring at a 43-45 deficit.

“They’re pretty good, but we didn’t play enough good defense,” King said. “We weren’t talking when they were hitting shots when they were open. There’s nothing we can do about that.”

Four Lions finished with double-digit scoring efforts. Trey Quartlebaum finished with a team-high 20 points, Zeke Mayo had 11 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 16, Mayson Quartlebaum had 11 points on 4 of 9 shots, and King had 19 shooting 7 of 14 from the floor.

“You’ve got to let it go and move onto the next game,” Lewis said. “It’s early February and you got to learn when you win and learn when you lose. This is an opportunity for us to learn about what it would take in this situation to win.”

Lawrence plays host to Olathe West at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Lawrence (73)

Zeke Mayo 6-12 2-4 16, Clarence King 7-14 3-4 19, Brett Chapple 1-1 0-2 2, Trey Quartlebaum 7-16 2-3 20, Willie Dotson 2-3 0-0 5, Eric Galbreath 0-1 0-0 0, Mayson Quartlebaum 4-9 3-5 11. Totals 27-56 10-18 73

Olathe North (81)

KT Raimey 7-10 3-4 19, Tymer Jackson 11-19 8-10 31, Elijah Williams 3-5 2-5 8, Mason Myers 1-4 2-4 4, Anthony Brown 4-9 1-2 12, Syl Union 2-5 0-0 5, Akot Makuc 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-53 16-25 81.

Lawrence 16 15 15 27 – 73

Olathe North 12 24 23 22 – 81

3-point goals: Lawrence 9-26 (Quartlebaum 4, Mayo 2, King 2, Dotson); North 7-15 (Brown 3, Raimey 2, Jackson, Union). Turnovers: Lawrence 13, North 8.