photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence sophomore Joey Dooley lays the ball up in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY — Lawrence boys basketball got a double-digit road win 56-35 over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday.

Lawrence coach Nick Wood wasn’t satisfied with the team’s energy or effort at the start of the game, as the Lions were slow to get going offensively with only nine first-quarter points.

“Our energy wasn’t up to where our standard needs to be, so it wasn’t a great start,” Wood said. “But they turned it around and got it going… We’re still growing. We’re still young. So it was good to see them work through it.”

Lawrence has seen a lot of growth over the first few months of the season, and a lot of the progress is beginning to show up in games. Sophomore Joey Dooley said the team is trusting each other more, which is playing out with more success on the court.

“You can see that there are times we trust each other a lot more with moving the ball, making that extra pass,” Dooley said. “It’s off the court too. We all love each other. We’re great friends. We’ve got a ways to grow, and we have to keep growing. But I’m excited for the future of all these guys.”

The Lions got going in the second quarter and kept putting pressure on the Stallions in the paint. Senior Eddie Roman Nose was effective in distributing the ball and recorded several assists by getting the ball to players who were attacking the rim.

Lawrence pulled ahead in the second quarter by starting on a 6-0 run with buckets from senior Devin Foster, Dooley and sophomore Simon Simien. The Stallions got their only points of the quarter following Simien’s field goal, but the Lions closed the half out with an 8-0 run.

The Lions held the size advantage over the Stallions and used that to their advantage by scoring in the paint and also preventing the Stallions from scoring close to the rim. The Stallions were mostly dependent on 3-point shooting in the game, and while they did convert a number of them, they weren’t enough to keep pace with the Lions.

“I don’t think we were very connected or engaged (at the start of the game defensively),” Wood said. “I thought our defense got better as the game got on. We didn’t make them uncomfortable until we packed the paint a little bit as the game wore on and got them uncomfortable.”

The final four buckets of the first half were by different Lions. Sophomore Truth Pope scored the first on an assist from Roman Nose, and Roman Nose got a field goal of his own afterward. Senior Khyree McGee scored through contact but missed the and-1, and junior Caleb Wingerd scored near the end of the half to give the Lions a 12-point lead at the break.

Dooley got going in the third quarter with more tough finishes at the rim. He scored seven points in the quarter, which was half of the team’s total. While Dooley was the one who got the tough buckets in the third quarter, the Lions have been their best in the half-court offense when they’ve attacked the rim.

“The biggest thing is not trying to force it and keep doing our stuff,” Dooley said of the team getting tough points in the paint. “There’s a lot of good teams we play with good defenses. So we just have to stick to our stuff and try not to get out of control. We have 35 seconds on offense — it’s plenty of time to get a good shot.”

The Lions got several young bench players involved late in the game, which was a goal for the team heading into the game as Lawrence is on the first night of a back-to-back. Sophomore Lincoln Neuhofel and freshman Zyon Wisdom played more minutes and made some plays.

“They all came in and contributed,” Wood said. “The guys that came in off the bench brought amazing energy. They played up to our standard of what we needed.”

The Stallions got the first points of the fourth quarter, but the Lions scored the next nine points to take a 20-point lead. Dooley hit a deep midrange shot before scoring in the paint. He found Simien for a bucket on a fast-break opportunity, and Neuhofel hit a 3-pointer at the tail of the run.

Schlagle scored five points, but the Lions outscored the Stallions 9-5 to win by 21 points. Wisdom got an offensive rebound and scored on the second-chance opportunity, and junior Adrick Webb hit a 3-pointer. Wisdom scored the final four points on two field goals at the rim, the final being a fast-break layup following a steal.

Lawrence will be back at home on Friday to host Shawnee Mission West at 7 p.m. in a Sunflower League game. With under a month left in the regular season, figuring out a winning formula against league teams as a collective unit is growing evermore important.

“We’ve got to keep growing together,” Dooley said. “We have to keep forming as a team… there might be some storms in there, but we have to keep loving each other and forming as a team.”

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence sophomore Simon Simien gets a fast-break layup in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence junior Kenyon Doleman fights through contact in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence sophomore Joey Dooley fights through contact on a layup in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Khyree McGee fights for the ball in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence junior Caleb Wingerd looks to pass in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Devin Foster fights through contact in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence freshman Zyon Wisdom goes for a layup in a 56-35 win over F.L. Schlagle on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Kansas City.