photo by: Chance Parker

Free State junior Jailen Thompson dunks in the game against Lawrence High on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022.

The Free State boys basketball team took down Lawrence High 59-47 Friday night in the City Showdown in front of a sellout crowd at Free State High School.

Led by Dash Cleveland’s 23 points, the top-ranked Firebirds (16-1) made enough key shots down the stretch to take down the fifth-ranked Lions (16-4) in a hard-fought, physical game that ended Lawrence High’s three-game win streak in the series.

“I thought Dash kind of set the tone with getting downhill, getting some easy buckets,” FSHS head coach Sam Stroh said. “I thought we played really solid fundamental basketball for about 27, 28 minutes and got a little loose there for three or four, but I guess that happens in a rivalry game.”

Cleveland knew he was due for a big game and felt he had a great opportunity to play his best game against the Firebirds’ archrival.

“I just had the mentality from the first day of the week,” Cleveland said. “And so from then on, I was just locked in and ready to play. It was great to be able to beat them and let the city know what we do.”

Lawrence High’s defense kept it in the game, but Free State’s consistent offense paved the way for a City Showdown win.

“I’m proud of our guys,” LHS coach Mike Lewis said. “They competed well and we didn’t necessarily score the ball particularly well, but you also got to hand that to Free State’s defense.”

The Free State crowd guided its team to a seven-point lead after eight minutes, with a dunk by Jailen Thompson midway through the quarter bringing the crowd to its feet.

Along with Thompson’s slam, five other players scored for the Firebirds in the opening quarter, and their defense forced three consecutive turnovers for a 15-8 lead. Jordan Brown had five points in the first quarter for Free State, and Avion Nelson and Zaxton King kept the Lions in the game.

“I thought we kept our composure pretty well,” Lewis said. “We just didn’t throughout the game do enough offensively to give ourselves a lead and be able to play a little bit differently, but it’s a tough environment.”

Cleveland, who made all five of his shots in the first quarter, followed with back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter to force LHS into taking its first timeout down 23-12 with 4:34 left in the half.

Nelson, King, Grant Cleavinger and Lance Bassett responded with several much-needed baskets to cut the FSHS lead to 29-20 at halftime.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle as both teams took aggressive attempts to score at the rim, but the Firebirds started to take control and ended the next 12 minutes up 44-30.

The Lions, who made only one 3-pointer in the first three quarters, started to make a late comeback. They cut their deficit to 10 points with two and a half minutes left in a physical fourth quarter that included three technical fouls.

“I liked the way our guys responded after Mozae’s (technical foul) and we had to finish out the last two and a half minutes,” Stroh said. “I thought both teams battled hard and it got a little out of control with the technical, but for 27, 28 minutes, I was proud of the way our guys played.”

After a nice backdoor pass to Thompson from Jet Dineen, the Firebirds controlled the final two minutes to win the City Showdown at home as their fans then stormed the court to celebrate.

The Firebirds are back in action on Saturday at 5 p.m. as they will play host to Olathe North in a makeup game from earlier this year. Lawrence High, meanwhile, will face Shawnee Mission South at home on Tuesday.

“It’s not ideal playing back-to-back, especially after an emotional win like this,” Stroh said, “but our guys want to get dialed in tomorrow at 10 a.m. and you know, proud of our effort tonight but can’t take a day off tomorrow.”

Box score

Lawrence (47)

Nelson 6-12 5-5 18, King 3-6 4-4 10, Bowen 3-10 2-4 9, Juelsgaard 0-1 0-1 0, Herlihy 1-4 1-2 3, Watson 0-1 2-4 2, Bassett 1-1 0-0 2, Long 0-1 1-2 1, Cleavinger 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 15-38 15-22 47.

Free State (59)

Brown 5-13 0-0 11, Edwards 1-2 2-4 4, Jackson 1-6 2-4 4, Cleveland 9-10 3-3 23, Thompson 3-6 0-2 6, Dineen 1-1 0-0 2, Gonzales 1-2 0-0 3, Downing 1-5 3-6 6. Totals 22-44 10-19 59.

3-PT FGs: LHS 2-7 (Nelson 1, Bowen 1); FS 5-17 (Cleveland 2, Brown 1, Gonzales 1, Downing 1). Turnovers: LHS 10; FSHS 9. Fouled out: LHS: Juelsgaard; FS: Brown.