WINNEMUCCA - If there is one thing that has hampered the Lowry High School freshmen boys basketball team this year, it is slow starts to games on Saturday afternoon.
That was no different this past Saturday as the Buckaroos looked like the ones making the long road trip, instead of South Tahoe. Lowry led by just four points at halftime, but rallied in the final 16 minutes to pull away for a 53-29 victory.
"I don't know what it is with Saturday games," said LHS head coach Grant Beatty. "We just were not ready to play and still have not put together a complete game on a Saturday. We were lazy in our press on defense and we were not finishing on offense. We made some adjustments at halftime and came out and played a lot better. When our big guys run the floor like they can, it makes everything work better for us."
The Buckaroos (12-1 overall, 6-0 Division I-A) scored the first six points of the game, including four by Nathan Lutzow. Lowry continued to hold the advantage at 8-2, when South Tahoe finished the opening quarter on an 8-2 run of their own, tying the contest at 10-10 on a shot at the buzzer.
The advantage changed hands three times in the opening minutes of the second period, with the Vikings leading for the last time at 15-14. Lutzow put the Buckaroos back up for good the next time down the floor with a 3-point play. That started a 9-3 run that was capped off by two buckets by Jared Taylor.
After allowing 21 points in the first half, Lowry's defense stepped up its play in the second half, allowing South Tahoe just eight points.
Taylor hit a jump shot to kick off the scoring for Lowry in the third period and steals off the press by Brian Shettler and Lutzow in a five-second span quickly put Lowry in front at 31-21. The Buckaroos finished the third period on a 12-3 run to lead 37-24.
Lowry scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter on the strength of two baskets by Brody Goucher and a 3-point field goal by Jacob Hales. South Tahoe did not make a field goal in the final period until there was 90 seconds remained in the game.
"It was good to see the guys bounce back and put a good half together," Beatty said. "You are playing good defense when you hold a team to eight points in a half."
Lutzow led all scorers with 17 points, while Taylor and Goucher added eight and seven points, respectively. Lane Allen and Shettler each scored six points, Hales five and Dominic Diaz and Christian Riddle had two points apiece.
Lowry began the weekend on Friday with a road trip to Dayton and had little trouble in defeating the Dust Devils 69-19. Lutzow nearly outscored Dayton by himself with 14 points in the first quarter. He eventually did pass the Dust Devils in scoring, finishing with 20 points.
"We were down to nine players for the game, so we had one starter on the floor the entire time," added the coach. "We were trying to keep the score down as much as we could."
Taylor and Shettler each reached double figures with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Allen netted eight points, Riddle five, Hales four and Goucher two.
Lowry is back at home tonight to host Elko at 3 p.m.
"Hopefully, they will be fired up for Elko," Beatty said. "It's a big rivalry game and we have talked about a bit. They are learning about how important this game is and what kind of rivalry the schools have."
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