photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Free State senior Bennett Nagel celebrates a strong start during the City Showdown basketball game on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, at Free State High School in Lawrence.

Free State trailed or was tied for exactly zero seconds of Friday’s City Showdown boys basketball game against Lawrence.

Before the clock even started, the Firebirds (7-14) took the lead with a technical free throw from sophomore Brenden Barrett, which was followed by a layup from senior Ethan Prescott on the first possession of the game.

The Firebirds carried that into a dominant first half, building an insurmountable lead as the Firebirds got their second-straight win over the Lions (7-14), 63-49.

“That’s rival high school basketball at its finest,” Free State coach Dwayne Paul said. “We were able to jump on them early, make some shots — making shots always makes you look better. We were playing good defense.”

Feeding off the energy of the crowd, the Firebirds stayed on the attack and quickly grew their lead. Lawrence senior Devin Foster got the Lions on the board with a field goal, but Barrett hit a euro-step layup and senior Bennett Nagel hit a 3-pointer.

“We fed off the crowd, that’s what you have to do in these rivalry games,” Nagel said. “We did that, hit a couple 3s and it kept rolling from there. I love seeing my brothers succeed, I love succeeding myself, so all of our shots coming together feels great.”

Lawrence junior Kenyon Doleman responded with a 3-pointer of his own, but the Firebirds scored a quick seven points to take a 15-5 lead, which led to the Lions calling a timeout.

Lawrence senior Eddie Roman Nose scored first out of the timeout, and sophomore Truth Pope added a free throw to cut into the Firebirds’ lead. But Free State kept attacking the paint and finished the quarter on an 8-4 run, including a layup by Prescott on an inbound pass from Barrett.

Senior Jadon Clock started the second quarter with a 3-pointer, with an assist coming from Nagel, who later hit a 3-pointer of his own out of a Free State timeout two minutes into the quarter. Prescott banked in a shot under the rim, and sophomore Jayden Williams got a deflection that led to a layup. Sophomore Brayden DeBruin’s two subsequent free throws gave Free State a 21-point lead.

“We dug ourselves way too big of a hole,” Lawrence coach Nick Wood said. “To Free State’s credit, they came out in that first half and put it on us and put us in a hole. It’s a tough spot to get out of.”

Free State’s senior trio of Clock, Nagel and Prescott were catalysts for Free State’s early lead. Prescott finished with 13 points, 10 of which came in the first half, and Clock scored five points. Nagel had 13 points after having not practiced during the week due to an illness. Barrett said Nagel was “amazing, hitting some big-time shots down the stretch that we needed.”

“He just started drilling 3s,” Barrett said. “That’s impressive to do.”

“I played this week with the sickness, but I just treated it like a Michael Jordan flu game,” Nagel added. “I knew I was going to come out hot for the rivalry game.”

Lawrence sophomore Joey Dooley scored three points in two possessions, and Roman Nose added another two free throws to bring the score back under 20 points. But the Firebirds finished the half strong, scoring six points on three shots to take a 41-19 lead into the break.

Wood told the team at halftime that the Lions needed to put themselves back in the game before the start of the fourth quarter, and the Lions did just that. The two teams traded buckets for the first few minutes of the second half before Lawrence deployed a 1-3-1 zone defense, which put the Firebirds in trouble.

“We have high character kids,” Wood said. “I’m proud of how our kids responded to a tough first half. But I wasn’t shocked by that, because I know what type of kids we have in our locker room.”

Paul said the Firebirds expected the Lions to switch into a zone defense at some point, but the team had seen Lawrence utilize a 2-3 zone, rather than a 1-3-1. The different look gave the Firebirds some fits and allowed the Lions a window of opportunity.

Roman Nose was a firestarter in the third quarter, hitting big shots and jumping into passing lanes to force turnovers in the zone defense. He scored 13 of Lawrence’s 20 points during a 20-2 run that spanned the middle of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth quarter and finished with 21 points overall.

“He was being a senior right there,” Wood said. “He looked like the kid we need him to be. He’s a kid who has been playing this game for three years. He responded, stepped up and gave us an opportunity to get back into the game. I’m super proud of how he responded.”

The Lions cut Free State’s over 20-point lead to just six points with under four minutes left in regulation with the run, but Williams made a play for the Firebirds with a layup and an and-1 out of a timeout. Prescott hit two free throws afterward, and the Firebirds had regained a double-digit lead.

“We were able to stay composed,” Paul said. “J-Will had a big and-1 down there, and the rest is history after that.”

Sophomore Simon Simien and Roman Nose both hit two free throws to make it a seven-point game late, but Bennett hit two free throws and a 3-pointer to put the Firebirds back up by 12 points. Free State freshman Packson McDaniel took a charge to force a turnover, and Williams scored the final two points of the game on free throws, giving Free State the 63-49 win.

“3-1 isn’t too bad for an all-time record, so that feels great,” Nagel said. “I really wanted to go out with a bang for my senior year, and I guess we did.”

Free State had a rough stretch in January and February, losing some close games that the team had the capability to win. But with back-to-back wins — and the latter being against the rival — the Firebirds are hoping the win can provide some momentum for the final two weeks of the season before substate.

“Hopefully this game propels both teams into next week and into March,” Paul said. “We had a lot of games that we were right there in the mix where we could have easily won if we make some of the shots then that we made tonight.

“The win is always good, but I tell the guys, we can’t worry about the result. We have to keep working on the process of getting better and fighting.”

As for Lawrence, Wood was pleased with the team’s response, and the success the team had in deploying the 1-3-1 zone defense while clawing back into the game provides positives to grow from for the Lions.

Free State will be on the road next week, starting with a Tuesday game against Shawnee Mission Northwest before finishing the regular season at Mill Valley on Friday. Lawrence will finish its season at home with a game against Shawnee Mission North on Tuesday and a Friday game against Gardner Edgerton for the regular-season finale.