Less than four minutes into the first quarter, head coach Ed Fritz called a timeout for the Huskies. They were trailing, 9-2, and the number one team in 6A looked out of sorts. Fritz said the team knew Lawrence would be tough competition and the early deficit forced them to play with intensity. 

“The game started and we got punched in the mouth. They’re a really good team, Zeke Mayo is one of the top players in the state, but we hung in there and locked in our defense,” Fritz said.

As the Huskies were trailing early, senior Jack Chapman said the team focused on communicating better and playing team-oriented basketball to get back in the game.

“We made sure to stick together and not fall apart. Our coaches always want us to huddle up and talk more and it helped us play better as a team,” Chapman said.

At halftime, the Huskies held a 30-26 point lead. Senior Alston Mason said the team did a good job on the defensive end, helping them to build a lead.

“We started to play a lot better defensively and we got more rebounds and pushed the ball out in transition for some easy points,” Mason said. 

The Huskies held a seven point lead at the end of the third quarter, but they would go on to outscore the Lions, 23-8, in the fourth quarter. Chapman, who led the Huskies in scoring with 21 points, said the team executed their offense well as they broke the game open.

“We were moving the ball well, finding the open man and playing really unselfish and it allowed us to take control of the game down the stretch,” Chapman said.

Along with the strong performances from Chapman and Mason, Fritz said he was pleased with the performance of two of his players who came off the bench.

“Jack Chapman made some huge plays, Alston did a great job getting to the hole and we got some unbelievable effort from Grant Stubblefield and Mikey Pauley on both ends of the floor,” Fritz said. 

The win improves the Huskies record to 9-0. Their next game will be against Greenwood Laboratory (Mo.) at home on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m.