If you look at the landscape of Division I-A high school basketball in Nevada, not much has changed in the last three years.
For the third straight season in a row, Lowry, Elko, Clark and Desert Pines are playing in the state tournament. This year's bracket is exactly the same as one year ago with the Buckaroos opening up with Clark, while the Indians take on Desert Pines. Lowry will be playing in its seventh consecutive state tournament.
Last season, Clark defeated Lowry 55-42 in the semifinals and went on to beat Elko for the state championship, its first since dropping from Division I to I-A.
The Buckaroos have a tall task ahead of them if they want to win their 12th state championship, but are accepting the role of being the underdog. The only player remaining from the 2012 state title team is Garrett Naveran.
"We have a lot of new kids experiencing the state tournament, but Garrett is experienced as it comes," said LHS coach Chad Peters. It's nice to have a state champion on your team. The big thing is getting kids to believe after watching film of these guys that they can play with them, is the hard part for a coach. When you watch Clark on film, they are very good. They are more athletic than we are and taller. But, it all comes down to effort and play defense. Three things have to happen for you to make a run in the state tournament. You have to play defense, play smart and you have to get a little lucky. If you have those three things happen, you have a chance."
The Chargers are ranked in the top 10 in the coach's poll in Las Vegas regardless of classification. Clark took on Canyon Springs, who is playing in the Division I state tournament, as well as Valley, who reached the play-in game to the state tournament. The Chargers have played schools from California, Utah and Pennsylvania.
"We know exactly what we are in for on Friday," Peters said. "They are a very good team with some athletic kids. We are going to have to have to make as few mistakes as possible. We have all the respect in the world for them. They are considered one of the best teams in Nevada."
In an interesting twist, Lowry practiced at Clark on Thursday night to get ready for the game.
"Chad (Beeten) is a great coach and is being great to us," Peters said. "It's not too often that you practice on the floor of the team that you are playing in the state tournament the next day. I helped him out last year when they came to Reno and he is returning the favor."
Lowry, who had to replace 75 percent of its team this year, has had its ups and downs, but have come on in the latter part of the season. With a handful of starters missing for the first couple weeks of the season, the Buckaroos went 4-4 with road trips to Las Vegas and Reno. Lowry beat three Division I schools in McQueen, Hug and Reed, with two losses to Reno. Lowry has come on strong in the second half of the season, with just two losses to Elko and both games were competitive in the first half.
The Buckaroos have common opponents in Virgin Valley and Faith Lutheran that Clark has played. Lowry lost to Faith Lutheran by 10 points and beat Virgin Valley by 14. Clark beat both squads this year, but Virgin Valley did beat Desert Pines.
"The two things we been very good with the last half of the season is our defensive effort and rebounding has picked up tremendously," Peters said. "We have got a lot better. We are in a very good place with where we are at as a team. It will come down to has the deepest and most disciplined team. We can't have silly and stupid mistakes at this point or bad things will happen."
Clark is one of a handful of Las Vegas schools that dropped to Division I-A in the 2012-13 school year as part of the latest NIAA realignment.
The Chargers are led by seniors Carter Olsen, Colby Jackson and Ty'rek Wells. The trio combines to score 30 points a game. Wells is the top rebounder at 5.0 a game.
"We are very familiar with what they have," Peters said. "They are an athletic team that can get the ball up the floor. We need to study and know what guys we have to stop."
Lowry throws out the 6-5, 6-3 and 6-1 trio of Nathan Lutzow, Garrett Naveran and Jared Taylor. Lutzow averages 11 points a game and 4.9 rebounds, while Naveran puts up 7.2 points a game a grabs 6.4 rebounds.
The Buckaroo offense is run by senior point guard Sterling Dennis, who scores 4.8 points a game and dishes out nearly two assists in each contest.
Lowry has also picked up strong play from Christian Gray and Omar Guerrero, who are threats from the 3-point line. Gray is the leading scorer at 11.1 points a game and Guerrero puts up 10 points a contest.
If Lowry wins, they play the winner of Desert Pines and Elko on Saturday at the Orleans Arena at 4:30 p.m.
"We are in a great spot," Peters said. "No one is giving us a chance to win. Everybody is worried about Elko, Desert Pines and Clark. We are the underdog, we are David. We want to show people that we can play. Chad is not going to let his kids overlook us. I am glad this group of kids get to experience the state tournament. There are only four boys teams left in our division and we are one of them. We are thankful to be one of them. We are not going to take it for granted and mail it in and get our butts beat and not give it our best possible effort. Both as coaches and players. We owe it to each other to finish strong."
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