Nobody said it had to be pretty when you go on the road in northern Nevada.
That is what the Lowry High School boys basketball team experienced in its first two Division I-A North games away from Winnemucca. The Buckaroos were able to win both contests, but needed overtime in one and had to hold off a late rally in the other.
It looked like Lowry was going to coast to an easy victory at Truckee on Saturday, holding the host Wolverines to just seven points in the first half. However, the Buckaroos saw a 22-point lead disappear and had to recover for a 57-50 win overtime.
"You can put that one on me," said LHS coach Chad Peters. "I didn't do a very good job of subbing are guys late. We had the big lead and had new guys in there in the fourth quarter. Truckee had their starters in and they got back in it. We have had to fight this season with injuries, sickness and some discipline issues and we had that against Truckee. We still have to get more mentally tougher. At times we look like a really good team and there are times we look like a JV team."
Lowry (4-0 Division I-A North, 9-5 overall) raced out to a 16-4 lead in the opening eight minutes and increased the gap to to 29-7 at halftime, after allowing Truckee just three points in the second quarter.
The Wolverines more than doubled their total from the first half with 15 points in the third quarter, but the Buckaroos still led comfortably at 39-22, entering the final eight minutes of play.
Truckee continued its comeback in the fourth quarter, putting Lowry on its heels. The Wolverines completed the comeback with a 24-7 run in the final period to send the contest in to an extra period.
After watching the 17-point lead go away, the Buckaroos regrouped in overtime and used an 11-4 run to prevent the upset.
Garrett Naveran and Nathan Lutzow each had 13 points and seven rebounds. Christian Gray joined them in double figures with 12 points. The senior added a team-high five assists to go with two steals.
Omar Guerrero netted nine points and grabbed six rebounds and Roberto Sanchez and Thomas Schwartz each had two points.
Lowry was back on the road Tuesday to play at Sparks and once again the Buckaroos jumped out to a quick start and led the Railroaders by nine points, 16-7, after eight minutes of play. Sparks came back in the second quarter with a run of its own and was able to cut the gap to 22-20 at the break.
"Right teams are running a lot of 2-3 zone at us," Peters said. "I see that as a sign of respect from the other team. But, reams are going to stay in that zone until we hit some outside shots to break it up. Right now, we are not the best outside shooting team and that is hurting us. Our defense is leading us and we had a couple lapses there as well and that was from seniors."
The Buckaroos came back to extend the margin back to nine points in the fourth quarter, before holding on for the five-point win at 59-54.
Naveran paced the Buckaroos with 14 points and six rebounds, while Gray and Guerrero had 13 and 10 points, respectively. In addition, Guerrero contributed five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Lutzow had seven points, Sterling Dennis finished with six points, a team-high five assists and one steal. Schwartz finished with four points and Jared Taylor and Jacob Von Aspern each had two.
"Sparks is a tough place to play," Peter said. "I will take these two wins right now on the road by a close margin, rather than beating someone by 20 or 30 points at home."
Lowry's four-game road trip continues this weekend, starting tonight at Fernley at 7:30 p.m. The Buckaroos move on to Fallon on Saturday to play Churchill County at 2:30 p.m.
"It's nice that we are 4-0, but the only downfall might be is that we are letting teams stay close to us and giving them confidence to play with us," Peters said. "The most important game we play is Fernley back on the road. Fallon is not on our minds until Saturday."
[[In-content Ad]]
