Josiah Lawrence has seen just about every type of defense a team can concoct.

Through box-and-ones, double teams and more, opponents try to slow down the Havre de Grace boys basketball star. He’s mastered them all.

Earlier this season, Cecil County’s Perryville threw that unique and difficult box-and-one look at him – four defenders play in a zone while a fifth sticks with Lawrence at all times. It’s typically used against an offense that funnels through one ball handler and lacks scoring threats alongside them and is meant to restrict movement and limit passing lanes for that star. No matter. Lawrence scored 43 points. Even better, Havre de Grace won the game, a result the senior pinpoints as a turning point for this season.

“Something clicked,” he said. “We finally played what I believe was our best basketball. It was so relieving knowing that our record is not a reflection of who we are.”

Lawrence is grappling with that heightened attention this season, a stellar one individually for the senior but a difficult one for the Warriors as a team. They’re 5-10 entering Thursday’s game against Aberdeen, coming off three consecutive losses. That’s despite Lawrence posting multiple 40-plus point games and other stat lines that leave himself and coach Brian Eberhardt amazed.

None of that, though, matters more to Lawrence than winning does.

“Everybody wants to put up points. But I like winning,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to take this team further.”

Lawrence’s highest scoring game was a 50-point explosion in December. In January, he had a 25-point, 25-rebound night. He’s averaging a 25-point double-double on the season.

His rebounding totals stand out most to Eberhardt, also Havre de Grace’s football coach. Lawrence tried football for the first time this fall and quickly became one of quarterback Julian Ringgold’s top targets. The gridiron taught Lawrence a tenacity that Eberhardt believes he lacked last basketball season but is oozing with now. He’s seldom stopped driving to the rim or going up for a rebound.

“It’s helped his basketball game,” the coach said. “He goes up and takes the ball away from everyone. Not shying away from contact.”

Havre de Grace has ridden the roller coaster of a season that is to be expected for how young the group is – Lawrence is one of just three seniors. The Warriors opened the season losing their first three games, then won three in a row before losing four straight. From there, consecutive victories preceded this current losing skid of three.

The constant throughout is Lawrence’s stat lines. Eberhardt is mostly aware when his star player is having one of those nights, but it sometimes gets lost in the hectic nature of a close game. Toward the end of Lawrence’s 50-point outing, one of Eberhardt’s assistants asked the scorer’s table how many points he had. Realizing how close Lawrence was to the mark, “We were like, ‘we should let him go for it,’” the coach said.

Lawrence nailed a 3-pointer at the fourth-quarter buzzer, with the game already out of reach, to reach it.

“He’s such a great kid. He comes to practice. He works hard every day,” Eberhardt said. “With a young team and our record is not where anybody wants it to be, he never says a disparaging word about a teammate ever. I’ve never even seen him give a cross look with a teammate who dropped the pass that he should have caught.”

Lawrence, still just 17 years old, will leave Havre de Grace after this season as one of the program’s greatest talents in recent history.

He wants a long playoff run as a departing gift. He has his sights set on winning a region title for the Warriors, a program still chasing its first state championship and one that hasn’t reached the state semifinals since 2003. If they get there, he’ll allow himself to shoot higher.

The 50-point games are nice, Lawrence said, but they don’t compare to seeing his teammates flourish in a win. It’d be easy for the senior, fielding college interest and so clear above almost everyone he plays with and against, to cling onto his own performances and overlook the results.

But Lawrence hasn’t been treated like most players this season, starting with those pesky defenses opponents throw at him hoping to knock him off his game. Usually unsuccessfully.

“I hate – I could put up 80, 100 points and we lose, and I’d be mad,” he said. “Winning has always been the goal for me.”

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.