WINNEMUCCA - Anytime you can pick up two conference wins before the first of January, it is a good situation to be in.
The Lowry High School varsity boys basketball team did just that last weekend on its road trip to Sparks and Truckee. The Buckaroos (7-2 overall, 2-0 Division I-A) beat the Railroaders 53-30 on Friday, Dec. 14, and Truckee 57-36 on Saturday.
This was the first time since the pod system was created during the 2010-11 school year that Lowry has played league games against members of the Ruby Mountain League (Sparks, Truckee and South Tahoe).
"I was nervous about going into the Brickhouse and playing Sparks," said LHS head coach Chad Peters. "That is a tough place to play. They have good players and are well coached. I thought they were a decent team - we just came out and played extremely hard. We played hard-nose defense and we didn't let their shooters get hot."
The Buckaroos doubled the Railroaders' output in the first quarter and were ahead by 21 points by halftime. Lowry held Sparks to 19 points through the first three quarters of play, on its way to a 43-19 lead.
"Anytime you hold a team to that few points you are doing a good job," Peters said. "We are still trying to find our way offensively. We didn't shoot very well, but we had only four turnovers in the first half, which I will take every time."
Lowry's offensive production dropped with just 18 points in the second half, but it was able to maintain its 20-point margin throughout.
Ten Buckaroos scored on the night, but no player had more than nine points. Tytus Millikan paced Lowry with nine points and Josh Shaver and Jesse Studebaker each had seven. Josh Watterson and Calvin Connors had six points apiece and had Tyler Brumm five. Garrett Naveran and Dusty Bryan had four points apiece, Chris Dendary three and Tanner Lecumberry two.
In addition, Watterson and Studebaker had eight and six rebounds, respectively and Millikan, Brumm and Naveran each had three steals.
"I will take that win every day," added the coach. "Any time you can go to the Brickhouse before Jan. 1 and get a win, you are doing something right, especially when you win as decisively as we did. The score didn't tell you how well we played."
Lowry finished out the weekend in Truckee and put on another defensive show in the first half. The Buckaroos held the Wolverines to 11 points in the first 16 minutes of the game to lead 35-11 at halftime.
"We just came out and started from where we left off the night before," Peters said. "It was a lot easier for our guys to come out and play our northern counterparts after going to Las Vegas. That trip helped us so much and the kids played mentally tough, which I was proud of. I didn't see a lot of that in Vegas. I was worried about our mental toughness and I thought we were all better about that kind of thing."
Watterson led Lowry with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Studebaker had 11 points, three rebounds and three steals. Dendary and Bryan finished with six points apiece and Shaver five. Millikan and Connors picked up four points each, Brumm and Naveran had two apiece and Justin Albright and Lecumberry each made one free throw.
Lowry was scheduled to play at Truckee once again on Thursday, but that game has been cancelled. With the void in the schedule, the Buckaroos will travel to play Reno on Saturday, Dec. 29, for a 5 p.m. tipoff.
"All in all it was a good weekend," Peters said, "It is nice that we picked the game up with Reno. Their schedule is pretty much full yet they found room for us. It will be a good challenge for us. It is games like that which will make you better."
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