WINNEMUCCA - The schedule may have said it was just another regular season game but the overflowing crowd Tuesday night in Winnemucca made the Lowry High School varsity boys matchup with Elko a state championship atmosphere.
The standing-room only audience, wearing mostly black, saw the Buckaroos (16-6 overall, 5-3 Ruby Mountain league) lead in the fourth quarter before the Indians took advantage of two late turnovers to escape with the 50-42 road win. The victory clinched the Ruby Mountain League championship for Elko.
"Tonight is why you want to coach in Winnemucca," said LHS head coach Chad Peters. "That is why you can't beat Lowry basketball. Look at our crowd and student body tonight. What an amazing group of people. Everyone is dialed in. That was a Tuesday night game and we had people jammed into the corners of the gym. McDermitt's boys made the trip down and sat behind our bench and I can't thank them enough. It was good for Winnemucca and I thank the community. I told the kids 'it's basketball and you just lost a really good basketball game.' I am not going to go out cussing and screaming or hitting a door. How can I not be proud of my guys for their effort?"
A basket by freshman Garrett Naveran gave Lowry a 32-31 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, in the low-scoring defensive game. The Indians took the lead for good at 35-32 on a 3-point play with 4:23 to play. The teams traded points from there, as Jesse Studebaker converted a layup to bring the score to 35-34, but Elko countered with a basket to go back up by three points. A pair of made free throws by Tytus Millikan brought Lowry back within a point at 37-36 with 3:14 left to go.
The turning point of the night was on back-to-back possessions. Lowry had the chance to take the lead, but Elko's Alan Honeyestewa stole the ball at mid court and went in for a layup. Seconds later, the senior did the same thing to give the Indians a 41-37 lead with 1:52 left.
Jordan Rinas made a 3-point field goal with 42.5 seconds to go to bring the Buckaroos within three points at 44-41 but as Lowry fouled late in the game, Elko was 6-of-8 from the foul line in the final 40 seconds to sweep the season series.
"We made some fundamental mistakes on the floor and there are some coaching things that I can fix," Peters said. "I am very positive right now. From top to bottom I thought we played with tremendous effort and the bench guys came in and gave us good minutes. There were some key points in certain quarters that cost us the game. We gave up too many easy baskets on out of bounds plays and we gave up a couple layups late."
Elko scored the first four points of the game, only to see Lowry go on an 11-2 run after baskets by Brandon Eastman, Studebaker and Dion Wardell. The Indians countered that with a 7-0 run that extended into the second quarter, before Chris Dendary tied the game at 13-13.
Millikan followed that with a 3-point field goal to put Lowry up by three points, but the Buckaroos could not hold the lead and the game went into halftime tied 18-18. The two long-standing rivals traded the lead three times in the third period, with the Buckaroos last leading at 25-23 on two free throws by Studebaker. Elko countered with a jump shot the next time down the floor, followed by a 3-point play to increase the gap to 29-25 before eventually leading 31-30 going into the fourth quarter.
Studebaker had team-high 14 points to go with six rebounds, while Millikan and Dendary added five each. Josh Watterson and Eastman scored four apiece, Calvin Connors and Rinas three each and Naveran and Wardell finished with two apiece.
Lowry closes out the regular season this weekend against White Pine on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and West Wendover Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Buckaroos will know their playoff scenario before playing tonight. Spring Creek and Elko played on Thursday and if the Indians beat the Spartans, Lowry is in the playoffs. If Spring Creek wins, then Lowry has to win one of its final two games and will either play at Dayton or Fernley in a regional playoff game on Feb. 17 or Feb. 18.
"There are things that we can fix and that starts with me and my coaches and we will go from there," Peters said. "I am very, very proud of my boys. We will know what we are going to have to do before we play this weekend. That being said, we have to come out and play well in two games so we don't finish this off on a down note."
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