photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High head coach Nick Wood puts his arms up in disbelief of a call made by the refs against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

Olathe — Solutions were hard to find in the second half of the Lawrence High boys basketball team’s 66-49 loss at No. 3 Olathe North in the first round of sub-state action on Wednesday.

After entering the tournament as the No. 14 seed, the Chesty Lions ended their campaign 8-13 with wins in six of their eight final contests. Senior star Zaxton King capped his LHS career with a game-high 34 points, finishing the night 11 of 16 from the field.

LHS coach Nick Wood said the locker room was emotional after the disappointing result. The Lions opened the season 1-9 before catching fire in the back half of the season with notable wins over Shawnee Mission South and Olathe Northwest.

“I think they understand how far they’ve come,” Wood said. “It was a tough, emotional locker room because they care and they bought into what we wanted to get done.”

LHS also received a double-digit scoring night from fellow senior Gordon Fineday (10 points) and five combined points from juniors Avery Johnson and Jaylen Parks. As a team, the Lions struggled to contain the flow of play with 22 total turnovers and 10 total team fouls.

A poor start by the Eagles from the field (3 of 10) set up a 10-7 stretch for the Lions as King scored 11 first-quarter points.

O-North finally put some gas in the tank when the second quarter arrived, leaning on sophomore Jaalan Watson (24 points), junior Derrick Cooper (three points) and senior TJ Porter (11 points) to get into a rhythm.

King singlehandedly kept LHS in the mix, adding the team’s entire second-quarter output (seven points) heading into halftime trailing O-North 24-20. Wood credited King and his fellow seniors for laying the groundwork for next season with one final ride in a pressure-filled sub-state game.

“The rules tell us it has to come to an end and that’s difficult,” Wood said. “When you have six seniors out there for us that’s been very special to us because they helped buy into what I’m wanting out of this basketball program.”

Fineday got on the stat sheet with five consecutive points for LHS to begin the third quarter, keeping pace with Watson’s successful inside shooting and a 3-point basket by Eagles senior Aiden Bruce (10 points).

The Lions were trailing by just six points midway through the quarter thanks to continued scoring by King, but the Eagles leaned on Watson and bench support by senior Eli Madden (four points) to grab a comfortable 44-33 lead entering the fourth quarter.

O-North outscored LHS late as Porter and Bruce entered double-figure scoring in the fourth quarter en route to a 16-point lead with 4:07 remaining. Fineday and Johnson each tacked on a 3-point basket down the stretch and the Lions leaned on 10 more points by King during the final eight minutes of their postseason run.

Box score

LHS 13 7 13 16 – 49

O-North 7 17 20 22 – 66

Lawrence High (49) Zaxton King 11-16 9-10 34; Avery Johnson 1-4 0-0 3; Banks Bowen 0-1 0-0 -; Gordon Fineday 4-7 0-0 10; Josh Galbreath 0-1 0-0 -. Totals: 17-33 9-10 49.

Olathe North (66) TJ Porter 3-6 4-4 11; Sam Simmons Jr. 3-4 0-0 6; Aiden Bruce 3-9 2-2 10; Cam Love 4-7 0-0 9; Derrick Cooper 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 26-46 7-10 66.

3-point goals: LHS: 6-15 (); O-North: 7-15 (). Turnovers: LHS 22, O-North 12. Fouled Out: None.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High’s Zaxton King looks to the scoreboard in the fourth quarter against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High Jaylen Parks passes the ball to senior Zaxton King for a fast break against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High sophomore Joshua Galbreath is called for the foul while trying to get a rebound against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High’s Zaxton King looks to find an opening against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Zaxton King fires a 3-pointer against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Zaxton King falls to the ground after slipping on the floor against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Zaxton King shoots a free throw against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High head coach Nick Wood talks to his players during a break in the game against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Zaxton King and Olathe North’s Sam Simmons Jr. go for a loose ball Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High junior Avery Johnson instructs a teammate during the game against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High junior Jaylen Parks reaches out for a loose ball against Olathe North Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Olathe.

Wichita Northwest cuts Free State boys’ postseason run short

The Free State boys basketball team saw its season end Wednesday night in a 61-45 road loss to Wichita Northwest in the first round of the 2024 KSHSAA 6A West sub-state tournament.

The No. 14-seeded Firebirds (6-14) could not recover from an early first-quarter deficit and lost to the Grizzlies (15-5), who punched their ticket to Saturday’s sub-state final.

“I’m proud of the way they responded,” FSHS coach Dwayne Paul said. “The goal was to try and get it to 10 at halftime and we did that a couple times. We just couldn’t get crucial stops or crucial baskets down the stretch.”

The Firebirds started slow offensively, and the aggressive, fast play of the Grizzlies overwhelmed Free State in the first eight minutes. The game opened 4-0 in favor of the Grizzlies, and a late first-quarter run put Northwest ahead by 15 heading into the second.

In the second quarter Free State remained aggressive and was rewarded with several trips to the free-throw line. But despite the defense forcing several late turnovers, the Grizzlies remained ahead by 15 heading into the second half.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair in which Dash Johnson scored several points from inside and beyond the arc. Late in the quarter, the Firebirds were down by just 11 points. The Grizzlies pushed that margin back to 13 going into the fourth, but the Firebirds promptly trimmed it back in the opening moments to force an early timeout.

Following another 3 from Johnson which made it an eight-point game, the Grizzlies started to take advantage at the free-throw line. They increased their lead back to double digits, where it remained the rest of the night, and stayed in control the rest of the way.

“I just told the seniors thank you for coming out,” Paul said. “I told them if you felt that you performed at the highest level, then you have nothing to hold your head about. I felt like for the most part they didn’t quit. We’ll come back in May and see where we’re at and go from there.”

Score by quarters

Free State 3 14 13 15 — 45

Wichita Northwest 18 14 11 18 — 61

Other scores

4A East Boys: Baldwin 83, Independence 35. The No. 2 Bulldogs will meet No. 10 Louisburg in the sub-state championship on Saturday.

4A East Boys: Parsons 53, Eudora 47. The No. 8 Cardinals ended their season 12-9.