ELKO - If you are a fan of high-octane offenses and a lot of points, you were in the wrong gym at Elko High School on Wednesday night.
The Lowry High School varsity boys basketball team renewed its rivalry with the Indians for the fifth time in the last two years - a matchup that turned into a defensive dogfight.
Both offenses found it tough sledding, with Lowry going scoreless for nearly seven minutes from the end of the second quarter to the start of the third as Elko pulled out the 48-41 victory.
"I am very proud of my team," said LHS head coach Chad Peters. "My guys battled to the end and never quit. First of all there are no excuses. We did not have (Tytus) Millikan and (Josh) Watterson and sat more than he played, which is fine. At the same time, we battled without two of our key offensive pieces. There were times we looked good on offense and there were other times, where we looked poor."
Millikan did not make the trip to Elko due to sickness and Watterson spent part of Tuesday night in the emergency room at Humboldt General Hospital, due to being sick as well.
Watterson was well enough to sink two 3-point field goals in the first quarter to keep the Buckaroos within two points at 10-8. The junior added five more points, including a third 3-point field goal, at the start of the second quarter to give the Buckaroos a 15-12 lead.
However, moments later Watterson picked up his third foul with 4:42 left in the first half. That turned out to be a major turning point on the night. The Buckaroos did not score the rest of the second quarter and the Indians rallied to score the final 13 points of the period to lead 25-15 at halftime.
"We had one of those stretches the first time we played," Peters said. "We led for much of the first half until that point."
Watterson collected his fourth foul 93 seconds into the third quarter and the Buckaroos broke their scoreless streak on a free throw by Chris Dendary with 5:55 left in the third period.
Lowry (15-5 overall, 7-2 Division I-A, 4-2 Ruby Mountain) caught fire late in the third period as Calvin Connors nailed two 3-point field goals and Josh Shaver added three points from long distance to cut the Elko advantage to 31-25.
"I am OK with tonight," Peters said. "There were times where we looked good - probably the best we have all year. Defensively, I thought we did some good things and made them struggle at times. Calvin did a great job on (Brandon) Jenkins. Calvin does a good job at irritating the opponent."
Elko scored five points in the first 50 seconds of the fourth quarter, forcing Lowry fight its way back. The Buckaroos picked up a basket by Watterson and four points from Jesse Studebaker to cut the margin to 36-31 with 2:37 to play, only to see the Indians reel off five straight points to push the advantage back to 42-31.
Shaver hit a 3-point shot with nine seconds to play to bring the Buckaroos to within seven points, but Lowry could not get any closer.
The season is playing out similar to a year ago when Elko won both regular season meetings. However, Lowry went on to beat the Indians in the state championship game. The two rivals have the opportunity to play twice more, once in the regional tournament and in the state tournament.
Shaver and Watterson each had 10 points for Lowry and Connors contributed nine. Studebaker scored six, Dendary three, Tyler Brumm two and Tanner Lecumberry one.
This past weekend Lowry traveled to White Pine and West Wendover for a pair of Ruby Mountain matchups. The Buckaroos came away with easy victories over both schools, beating White Pine 70-41 on Friday, Jan. 25, and West Wendover 82-53 on Saturday.
In the matchup with White Pine, Lowry raced out to a 25-9 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Buckaroos outscored the Bobcats in every quarter on their way to the 29-point win.
Every player in the lineup scored with Millikan and Watterson leading the way with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Dusty Bryan added eight points and Garrett Naveran, Dendary and Connors each had six points. In addition, Connors had a team-high 10 assists.
Nate Eldodt, Justin Albright and Studebaker each had four points and Lecumberry and Brumm had two points apiece.
Lowry scored a season-high 82 points on Saturday, including 33 in the first eight minutes of play. The Buckaroos tripled the output of the Wolverines in the first period and cruised to the victory from there.
Lowry had four players in double figures, with Studebaker notching a team-high 17 points. Watterson and Connors each had 11 points and Millikan 10. Eldodt scored six points, Lecumberry, Brumm and Bryan five each, Albright four and Dendary two.
Connors added five assists and Millikan had four steals.
Lowry plays host to Battle Mountain tonight at 7:30 p.m. as the school is celebrating its Winterfest week.
"I am very positive right now," Peters said. "We just need to shore up some things. The biggest thing for us is to get healthy. We have been going through the injury and sickness bug."
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