ELKO - After watching their female counterparts go to three overtimes, the Lowry High School junior varsity boys basketball team did its best to provide the fans in attendance the same excitement.
The Buckaroos didn't take it to quite the same extreme, but went into overtime before losing 62-61 to Elko.
"The effort was solid all night," said LHS coach Jeff Rinas. "The kids played hard the entire game. It was a well-played game between two good basketball teams. We just came up a little short."
The Buckaroos came out on fire in the first quarter, making three 3-point field goals - two of those by Omar Guerrero. Guerrero finished the night with a game-high 34 points. Jacob Von Aspern netted five points in the first period, including a 3-point field goal, helping Lowry to a 17-9 lead.
Elko used the outside shot its advantage as well, making three 3-point field goals in the second quarter. The Buckaroos led by 10 points late in the first half, when the Indians connected on their third long distance shot of the quarter to cut the deficit to six at the break.
Elko took the momentum from that shot to the third quarter with a 14-5 run to go in front 40-38.
"That was the difference in the game," Rinas said. "We have to be mentally ready when we come out of halftime. We have be more aggressive. We had a hard time running our offense. There just wasn't any movement."
Elko pulled out to a five-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Guerrero put Lowry in front by a point off of back-to-back 3-point field goals. The Indians countered with a 3-point shot of their own and added a free throw to go back in front 47-44 with 4:48 left in regulation. The Buckaroos used back-to-back baskets by Nathan Lutzow and Guerrero to take a one-point lead with 3:28 to go.
Elko appeared to seize control of the game with the next six points to lead 53-48 with 1:45 left on the clock. However, Lowry rallied, starting with two free throws by Jared Taylor. With time running out, Guerrero nailed a 3-point shot from 27 feet.
The Indians called a timeout for a last-second play but threw the ball out of bounds. With 1.2 seconds left, Lowry had a chance to win the game, but a shot by Guerrero hit short on the rim.
"It is the shot we wanted," said the coach. "It looked good when it left his hands."
Lowry grabbed control of the overtime behind six points by Lutzow to lead 59-55. However, Elko scored the next three points and took advantage of a missed Buckaroo free throw to connect on a 3-point field goal to go in front 61-59 with 35 seconds to play. The Indians did not trail again.
Elko shot 24 free throws to Lowry's five and the Indians were not called for a foul until the four-minute mark of the third quarter.
"We will do some different things when we play them again," Rinas said. "They are a team that we can beat."
Lutzow joined Guerrero in double figures with 12 points, while Von Aspern scored five. Taylor scored four points and Dominic Diaz and Chris Tyree each had three.
Lowry (12-4 overall, 6-1 Division III North) picked up a pair of league wins at home last weekend. The Buckaroos beat Fernley 55-19 on Jan. 10 and Churchill County 68-52 on Saturday.
Lowry held Fernley to just five points in the first half en route to a 37-5 lead at the break. The Vaqueros never challenged the Buckaroos from there, scoring four or less points in three of the four quarters.
"We came out and jumped on them right away," Rinas said. "I was happy to see that we didn't drop down to their level of play. The only thing I didn't like was the 26 turnovers. That is too many."
Guerrero outscored Fernley by himself with 20 points. Lutzow and Taylor each scored nine points, Jacob Hales and Diaz had four points each, Trey Marriot three and Christian Riddle, Tyree and Von Aspern had two points each.
Lowry continued its winning ways Saturday, with one of its highest offensive outputs of the season. The Buckaroos scored 19 points in the first, second and fourth quarters on their way to a 16-point victory.
"We came knowing it was going to be a good game," Rinas said. "They are starting to put together a good program. It was good to get the offense going."
Guerrero (32) and Lutzow (19) nearly outscored Churchill County by themselves.
"They played a great game," said the coach. "They have been playing well the past couple of weeks."
Von Aspern and Taylor each had six points, Tyree two and Brian Shettler had one point.
Lowry is back on the road Saturday when it travels to Sparks to face Reed at 2:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
