Going into the third quarter down 41-35 on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse, the Lions understood the difficulties of a comeback against Free State but still felt the climb wasn’t insurmountable.

In the first two quarters, the game was neck-and-neck. With athletic plays from junior Anthony Selden, three-pointers from senior Jake Rajewski and Selden, and dishes from junior Savonni Shazor, the Lions held the lead most of the half in a back-and-forth scoring contest.

In the third quarter, the Lions were led by the steady hand of junior point guard Trey Quartlebahm, who would slice his way into the paint on several occasions and have three free throws off of a foul. He finished with 13 points.

“I think we improved [offensively] since last week, but they were a very good team,” Quartlebahm said. “So I give credit to them also.”

Credit was definitely deserved for the Firebirds. After a 7-0 run late in the third quarter, Free State never looked back.

In the fourth quarter, while Free State executed on its opportunities at the line and on the floor, the Lions struggled to score, at one point winning four offensive rebounds but failing to execute. By the time the Lions found some offensive rhythm late in the fourth quarter, it was already too late, as Free State cushioned themselves with a double digit lead.

Freshman Zeke Mayo had several nice drives to the hoop and a three in the final half, prompting the student section to chant “he’s a freshman” as a taunt to the Firebird defense.

“I came out nervous as a freshman on varsity but once I got the hang of it I was good because I played my own game,” Mayo said. “In the first half we couldn’t knock down shots but after that in the second half we started to get good shots but we just had to get defensive stops.”

In the final seconds of the game, the benches of both teams were cleared and the Lion’s eight game winning streak in the City Showdown ended in a 56-49 loss. However, Quartlebahm is not despondent over the loss and is looking forward to the rest of the season in preparation for postseason play.

“It hurts,” Quartlebahm said. “But it’s still the beginning of the season and we have a couple months left [before the postseason].”

Because of the increasing size of the Sunflower League, this will be the only match-up between LHS and Free State in the boys basketball regular season.

The Lions will play again on Dec. 21 at Leavenworth.