ELKO - When you play a team so many times in a season, complacency can set in and that's is what happened to the Lowry High School freshmen boys basketball team on Wednesday night in Elko.
The Buckaroos (21-1 overall, 9-0 Division I-A, 4-0 Ruby Mountain) were playing the Indians for the third time in two weeks. In each of the previous two meetings, Lowry won the games by double figures, but needed to hold off a fourth-quarter rally by the Indians to win 43-37 in the third and final matchup of the year.
"It was a rough game from the start," said LHS head coach Grant Beatty. "Elko packed its zone in and caused us problems. Our big guys were not aggressive as they usually are. It just put us into bad spots, where we were not getting buckets we normally get."
Nathan Lutzow scored nine points in the first period and Christian Riddle connected on a 3-point field goal to give the Buckaroos a 15-10 lead after a quarter of play.
Lutzow added seven points in the second period and Jared Taylor and Brian Shettler contributed buckets to keep the advantage at nine points at halftime.
The Buckaroos' lead reached double figures at the start of the fourth quarter, but they had to hold off a late Indians' rally that cut the deficit to six points in the final eight minutes of play.
Lutzow led all scorers with 20 points, while Shettler and Taylor finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Brody Goucher scored four, Riddle three and Dominic Diaz one.
"Elko just kept on fighting and was relentless," Beatty said. "You tend to go through the motions when you play one team that much. They were very physical with us. The kids were disappointed in the locker room but a win is still a win. I like to see that in them. Anytime you come to Elko and get a victory, it's a good thing."
Lowry spent last Saturday in Elko as well for two games against the Indians and Churchill County. The Buckaroos beat Elko 68-49 and routed the Greenwave 56-14.
Taylor and Lutzow were a two-man wrecking crew against Elko, with the duo combining for 49 points. Taylor had a game-high 25, while Lutzow added 24.
Jacob Hales also reached double figures with 11 points, Shettler had three, Diaz and Riddle two each and Goucher one.
At the beginning of January, Lowry struggled to an 18-point win over Churchill County, but it was a much different story the second time around.
The Buckaroos raced out to a 28-5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Lutzow netted 12 points in the opening period and Taylor added seven more.
Lowry stretched the advantage to 35-7 at halftime and much of the second half was played with a running clock due to the NIAA 40-point mercy rule. The Buckaroos led 56-19 in the third quarter, before getting outscored 14-4 in the final eight minutes by the Greenwave.
"It was nice to see us bounce back and play like we can," added the coach. "We were sleepwalking the first time we played them. We took it right to them from the get go tonight. That was probably one of our best first-quarter performances all year."
Lutzow more than doubled Churchill County's total with 29 points, while Riddle added seven.
"Nathan was a one-man wrecking crew," added the coach. "But I was pleased with the way Christian has been playing. He does a lot of the dirty work and gets a lot of rebounds for us."
Taylor scored nine points, Shettler and Hales each had four and Goucher three.
Lowry hosted West Wendover on Friday, Jan. 25, and made quick work of the Wolverines in a 63-14 blowout of the Division III school.
The Buckaroos raced to a 31-4 lead in the first quarter and cruised from there as the Wolverines did not score more than five points in any quarter.
All eight Lowry players netted points, with Lutzow and Taylor scoring 17 and 12 points, respectively. Goucher added 10 points, Kyle Schultz eight, Hales seven, Riddle five and Diaz and Shettler each had two.
Lowry's remaining Saturday games for the year has been cancelled and the Buckaroos host Spring Creek Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
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