FALLON - The Lowry High School JV boys basketball team was looking to stay undefeated in league play this past weekend, but hit a bump in the road Saturday in Fallon.
After beating Fernley 53-41 on Friday night, the Buckaroos were leading Churchill County at halftime, but managed just 11 points in the second half and fell 49-33 to the Greenwave.
"We talked about being mentally focused and playing an entire four quarters," said LHS coach Grant Beatty. "We missed a couple shots here and there and got down on ourselves and we could never recover. We were shooting four of five-foot shots when we had a chance at a layup. We had trouble breaking the press and Churchill County made some shots and free throws and we didn't.
Lowry jumped out to an early 6-0 and controlled the first few minutes behind two baskets from Brady Lange and two free throws by Dominic Diaz. A layup by Jacob Hernandez kept the margin at five points, 8-3, but Churchill County came back to cut the deficit to 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Greenwave came back to take the lead at 15-14, but Lange and Diaz answered with back-to-back baskets to put the Buckaroos back in front at 1-15. The two schools traded baskets to the end of the half, with Hernandez and Jed Teichert finding the bucket to give Lowry a 22-21 advantage at halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Buckaroos managed just two field goals, one each by Teichert and Joe Taylor, as the Greenwave used an 11-4 run to go in front 32-26.
Churchill County did not trail again, scoring the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to cap off a 15-0 run to lead 44-26. Lowry did not make a field goal for the first five minutes of the final quarter. The Greenwave spent most of the second half at the free throw line and was 18-of-25 from the stripe, while the Buckaroos were just 7-of-16.
"We got caught up in everything that was going on," Beatty said. "It was a physical game and we didn't make good decisions. I think it's just a mental thing and hopefully we can shake it off before our two games this week."
Diaz paced Lowry with 12 points, while Hernandez and Lange added seven and six points, respectively. Teichert had four points and Brody Goucher and Taylor two each.
Lowry (5-1 Division I-A North, 11-4 overall) began the weekend with a 53-41 win over Fernley. The Buckaroos outscored the Vaqueros by three points in each of the first two quarter, but used a 16-8 run in the third quarter to pull away.
"I thought we did a good job," Beatty said. "We came out and got an early lead and controlled the game. We would get a big lead and let them get back in it and then we would make another run. We need to have that instinct of when we have the chance to put them away early we have too. We can't let teams hang around and think they have a chance to win."
Nine players for Lowry scored, with Lange and Teichert leading the way with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Hernandez and Goucher had six each, Darrin Nelson, Christian Riddle and Diaz four each and Lane Allen and Taylor had two apiece.
Lowry is back home to play Elko today at 4:30 p.m. and will host Spring Creek on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
"Hopefully, we bounce back with two big games in front of us," Beatty said. "Elko is always a tough team and Spring Creek just beat Elko. We are going need to be ready to play."
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