WINNEMUCCA - With the youth of freshmen basketball there are going to be highs and lows during games, and the Lowry High School boys went through that this past weekend in their home debut.
Forced to play their games at the Winnemucca Junior High School due to ongoing construction of the gym floor at the high school, the Buckaroos defeated Sparks 47-31 on Friday and Truckee 63-32 on Saturday.
"We were up and down and played in streaks," said LHS head coach Grant Beatty. "But that is just freshmen basketball. We just need to put up four quarters of consistent basketball."
Lowry (5-0 overall, 2-0 Division I-A) scored seven of the first eight points against Sparks, including a 3-point play to start the game by Jared Taylor. Nathan Lutzow added two buckets for the Buckaroos, who led 7-1, primarily on the strength of their press defense.
The Railroaders cut the gap to four points, to 11-7, two minutes into the second quarter when the Buckaroos countered with seven consecutive points, including the last five by Taylor.
Lutzow and Taylor added four points apiece in the third quarter, giving Lowry a comfortable 14-point advantage. However, Sparks did not go away, scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter to make the score 32-26 in favor of the Buckaroos.
After Sparks cut the deficit to six points, Lutzow hit a 16-foot jump shot the next time down the floor to stop the Railroaders momentum. Sparks trimmed the lead to six points at 37-31, but the Buckaroos held the Railroaders scoreless in the final two minutes of the game, closing out the night with 10-0 run.
Lutzow and Taylor did most of the damage for Lowry with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Christian Riddle scored three points, Dominic Diaz, Lane Allen and Brody Goucher two each and Jacob Hales one.
If the first six minutes on Saturday was any indication, it looked like Lowry was in for an easy day. Lutzow was dominant for the Buckaroos as he scored 12 of the first 14 points of the game, giving Lowry a 14-0 lead.
The Buckaroos did not keep the momentum from the quick start, with the Wolverines battling back to cut the advantage to a point at 18-17 after going on a 17-4 spurt. Lowry was able to cut the damage a bit as Goucher and Brian Shettler hit
buckets at the end of the first half.
"I wanted us to come out with a good start and we did that," Beatty said. "We hit a lull in the second and third quarter, where it seemed we couldn't do anything right."
Truckee's good luck continued into the second half, hitting two 3-point field goals, including one on a 20-foot bank shot that cut the Lowry lead to 27-25.
That was the eye-opener for the Buckaroos, who went on a 30-1 run that stretched into the fourth quarter. Lowry increased the advantage to 48-27 after the third period and held Truckee scoreless in the fourth quarter with 90 seconds to play.
"It seemed everything was going right for Truckee," added the coach. "We just buckled down and played like we are capable of and it showed in the run we made."
Lutzow led all scorers with 21 points, while Taylor and Goucher added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Trey Marriott and Riddle scored six points apiece, Shettler five. Kyle Schultz two and Hales one.
Lowry makes the return trip to Truckee on Thursday for a 3 p.m. tipoff in the non-conference matchup.
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