The Lowry High School junior varsity boys basketball team closed its road portion of the schedule with two wins last week,
The Buckaroos (19-5 overall, 13-1 Division I-A North) routed Fernley 77-36 on Feb. 6 and knocked off Churchill County 48-40 for their seventh consecutive victory.
In the win over Fernley, LHS led from the beginning with a 21-10 run in the opening quarter. The Buckaroos used five points from Nathan Lutzow, four more by Chris Tyree and 3-point field from Dominic Diaz to push the advantage to 35-19 at halftime.
"The kids came out and played well from the start," said LHS assistant coach Don Walton. "Everyone was able to score, which was nice. We were able to work on some things and didn't play at their level."
Jacob Von Aspern and Hared Taylor combined for 10 points in the third quarter as Lowry extended the margin to 54-27. Lowry closed out the game on a 23-9 run and the contest was played with a running clock in the late going.
Jacob Hales scored all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter, and Taylor also contributed 12 points. Lutzow joined them in double figures with 11 and Von Aspern and Tyree each had six points. Diaz scored four, Christian Riddle three and Lane Johnson, Brian Shettler and Trey Marriot two each.
It was much closer Saturday in Fallon, as Lowry opened up a six-point lead in the first quarter and held on.
"The kids came out with good intensity and they got after it," said LHS coach Jeff Rinas. "We got that early lead and pretty much held it from there. Churchill County is a good team and we went in expecting a close game."
The Buckaroos used scoring from five players in the first quarter to lead 14-8 and they went into the break with a four-point lead at 25-21.
The second half turned physical as the two schools combined for 34 free throws in the final 16 minutes. The Greenwave managed just four field goals in the second half, but scored 10 points from the free throw line.
"We looked a bit out of sorts in the second half," Rinas said. "We didn't play good defense in the second half. We committed a lot of stupid fouls and we did a lot reaching. We had two kids foul out and another with four. We didn't run our offense in the second half and turned the ball over too much."
Lutzow connected on just two field goals but paced Lowry with 12 points. Riddle, Hales and Taylor each had seven. Shettler netted six points, Tyree three and Diaz two.
"We did a good job of spreading the scoring around but just couldn't get into it in the second half," Rinas said. "We forced the ball too much, instead of being patient. The nice thing was that they came together as a team. It was nice to see other kids step up."
Lowry closes its season at home this weekend against Spring Creek today at 4:30 p.m. and Elko on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
"It is a big weekend for us," Rinas said. "We aren't overlooking Spring Creek but Elko is a big game for us. It would be nice to get a win over them to end the year."[[In-content Ad]]
