The scouting report for the Lions was to contain Wichita Southeast guard Jerrick Harding. Likewise, the Golden Buffalo aimed to stop LHS senior forward Price Morgan. After one quarter the two lead their teams respectively with eight points apiece. The Lions are up 36-31 against Southeast.

The quick start for the two stars led to a quick start for both teams, who were tied after the first quarter 17-17. The game quickly turned into a battle of force versus finesse as the Lions took the tough route–playing strong inside and gathering a lot of tough rebounds–while the Buffaloes, spurred by the hot outside shooting of Harding, relied on the outside shot to keep themselves with the Lions.

The Lions began to pull away towards the end of the second quarter, lead by a strong defensive stretch where the Lions began to step out on more of the Buffaloes’ passes. With 2:30 left in the half, junior forward Jackson Mallory stepped out on a pass and sent an outlet pass shooting across court to senior guard Justin Roberts, who had Mallory again for the easy lay up.

Early on, the Lions struggled to move the ball. But Roberts, who tied for the team lead at half with ten points, helped the Lions move the ball. Roberts shared the ball early and often, finding Mallory in transition for an easy lay in in both quarters and finding Morgan in the high post to work into his dribble-drive game. However, when Roberts was at his best, is when he took defenders off the dribble, knocking down several hard jump-shots while being bumped by Wichita Southeast defenders.
With two minutes left in the second quarter, the Buffaloes called a timeout after LHS made a free throw that put the Lions up 31-29. Coming out of the timeout, it was all Lions to close out the half, who ended on a 7-2 run to end the quarter and take their lead into halftime.