WINNEMUCCA - When the Lowry High School junior varsity boys basketball team traveled to Battle Mountain in mid-January, LHS head coach Jeff Rinas was less than pleased with his squads defensive effort in his squad despite a 10-point win.
As the two schools got together for the final time in Ruby Mountain League play, the Buckaroos made it a point to contain the Longhorns' Blake Dorian and Tristan Hanyon.
The two caused Lowry a number of problems in the first meeting but were held to a combined 17 points as the Buckaroos won 49-33 on Friday afternoon in Winnemucca.
"It was a much better performance all the way around, especially on defense," Rinas said. "Our goal was to hold both guys to 10 points or less and we did that. I challenged our team before we played and they responded. Sterling (Dennis) did a good job of shadowing Dorian the entire game."
Christian Gray scored five points and Omar Guerrero added four in the first quarter to help the Buckaroos to a 13-7 lead. Gray's 3-point shot at the end of the first period helped start a 12-0 run that stretched into the second quarter, giving the Buckaroos a 22-7 advantage. Dennis, Josh Rose and Roberto Sanchez also had baskets during the spurt.
"Offensively, we never got into a good flow but had times where we looked good," added the coach. "We missed a lot of easy shots. We didn't run our stuff like we should. A lot of that had to do with Battle Mountain running a zone on us. We didn't react well to it."
Lowry (18-2 overall, 9-0 Division I-A, 7-0 Ruby Mountain) led 30-16 at halftime and pulled away in the second half, starting five different players. The advantage grew to as many as 22 points in the fourth period, when Battle Mountain finished the game on a 7-1 run to cut the deficit to 16 points.
Dennis and Guerrero led Lowry with 10 points apiece and Gray added nine. Thomas Schwartz scored five points, Rose four and Dawson Cassinelli and Andy Mendoza two each.
Lowry travels to Spring Creek today for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff to complete its Division I-A slate. The Buckaroos close out their season this weekend at home and plays White Pine on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and West Wendover on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
"We did a great job tonight and it was a great win," Rinas said. "We have three games and three practices left. We have to get after it. We need to finish strong and take nothing for granted and we should be able to that."
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