WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School varsity boys basketball team found itself in an unfamiliar place on Saturday afternoon - its own gym.
The Buckaroos (9-3 overall, 4-0 Division I-A North) were playing their first game of the season on their home floor as Churchill County made a visit to Winnemucca.
The Greenwave played at a fast pace the entire game, hoping to disrupt what the Buckaroos do on offense. Churchill County led by two points at halftime, but Lowry used a third-quarter run to reclaim the advantage and win 59-49.
"We need to control the pace of the game," said LHS head coach Chad Peters. "If we are going to play at a fast pace, we have to learn to slow down and get into something. Or we have to learn to finish and be under control at that pace."
Trailing 16-11 in the first quarter, Lowry closed out the period on a 10-0 run on the strength of a defense that contributed six points off of steals. Jesse Studebaker scored seven points in the opening period, while Garret Naveran added four points.
The Buckaroos' offense went silent after that run, going scoreless for more than five minutes in the second quarter. Lowry had good looks at the basket but missed a number of easy shots.
Churchill County used that to its advantage, going on a 9-0 run to start the second quarter and lead 25-21. A layup by Josh Watterson with 2:42 left in the first half was the first points for the Buckaroos in the second quarter. Josh Shaver hit a baseline jump shot at the buzzer to bring the Buckaroos to within two points at the break.
"We were just doing things that we normally don't do," Peters said. "We were having trouble breaking the press because we had the wrong guy taking the ball out of bounds. We need to be under control and be squared up to the basket when we shoot the ball."
Lowry made a switch to its offense at the start of the second half and it paid off as the Buckaroos used a 10-2 run to lead 35-29 and force Churchill County to take a timeout with 4:36 left to play in the third period. Watterson kick started the spurt with a 3-point field goal. Lowry did not trail again after grabbing the advantage.
"I was impressed with how we came out and ran an offense we put in at halftime," said the coach. "On the other hand, we were having trouble running what we have been doing all year. That should not be happening."
Churchill County cut the deficit to two points, 40-36 with two minutes left in the third quarter, but Lowry scored the final four points of the quarter and the first basket of the fourth period to push the margin back to 10 points. The Buckaroos led by as many as 14 points in the final quarter.
"We have to stop settling for shooting the 3-point shot early in the game and get the ball inside to our big guys," Peters said. "We are at our best when we do that."
Studebaker and Watterson led Lowry with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Tytus Millikan, Calvin Connors and Naveran added eight points apiece and Shaver two. Studebaker and Watterson added eight and seven rebounds, respectively, while Millikan and Studebaker each had three steals.
Before taking on Churchill County, Lowry traveled to Fernley on Friday and came away with a 59-35 victory, despite shooting just 36 percent from the field. The Buckaroos were 0-for-7 from the 3-point line and 13-for-21 from the free throw line.
Lowry grabbed a 41-25 lead at halftime and cruised to the victory from there. The Buckaroos outscored the Vaqueros 9-0 in the third period to lead by 25 points.
All 12 players scored for Lowry with Watterson and Studebaker leading the way with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Naveran added seven points, Justin Albright five, Chris Dendary, Dusty Bryan, Millikan and Connors four each, Nate Eldodt, Tanner Lecumberry, Tyler Brumm two apiece and Shaver one.
Lowry continues Division I-A play this weekend as it hosts Dayton on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The game is a rematch of last year's regional playoff contest, a game the Buckaroos won.
Lowry then hits the road on Saturday to play South Tahoe at 4:30 p.m. It is the first time the Buckaroos have played at South Tahoe since the 1990s.
"The effort is there for us and I can't fault that one bit," Peters said. "We have to tweak some things. We need to come out and start showing some dominance and run our stuff and finish. We have a very hard road trip to South Tahoe. It is a tough to place play and we have to be focused and ready to go."
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