WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School freshmen boys basketball team continued its victorious ways with two victories over Lahontan League schools this past weekend.
The Buckaroos (10-1 overall, 4-0 Division I-A North) had little trouble with Fernley at home on Friday, Jan. 4, winning 63-19. Lowry boarded the bus on Saturday morning and knocked off Churchill County 55-37 despite a slow start.
The Buckaroos raced to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter against Fernley, picking up scoring from five different players. Nathan Lutzow (12) and Jared Taylor (8) combined for 20 of the points.
"Fernley was missing a couple of players and we just came out in the first quarter and took it to them," said LHS head coach Grant Beatty. "Everyone got quite a bit of playing time and we were able to work on some things."
Lowry led Fernley 42-8 at halftime but the game went to a running clock in the opening minutes of the second half as the Buckaroos pushed the advantage above 40 points.
Lutzow outscored Fernley by himself with 20 points, while Taylor and Kyle Schultz added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
"Kyle has been quiet all year but he came off the bench and provided us with some good scoring," Beatty said. "It was nice to get the guys some experience. We didn't go very deep on the bench when we played in the Reno tournament."
Brody Goucher and Lane Allen each scored five points; Dominic Diaz, Caleb Logan and Jacob Hales had three points apiece and Brian Shettler two.
Lowry needed a second-half rally to overcome a four-point deficit at Fallon on Saturday.
"We just didn't come out ready to play," said the coach. "We were just sleep walking through the first half. The guys bounced back and had a really good second half. It was nice to see them snap out of that first-half slump."
Lutzow proved tough to stop once again as he finished with a game-high 26 points, while Taylor added 10 points. Diaz contributed seven points, Allen and Shettler four each and Christian Riddle and Schultz two each.
Lowry stayed busy during the Christmas break with the three-day State Farm Invitational at Damonte Ranch High School in Reno. The Buckaroos finished second in the 16-team tournament, falling to Reed 47-43 in the championship on Saturday, Dec. 29. It was the highest finish for any Lowry team at the tournament.
The Buckaroos opened with two wins on Thursday, Dec. 27, beating Damonte Ranch 60-39 and Carson 47-30. In the semifinals on Friday, Dec. 28, Lowry defeated Galena 59-45.
"We had a really good chance at winning the tournament," Beatty said. "It was good to beat Damonte Ranch because they gave us one of our two losses this year. We showed that we can compete with the bigger schools."
The Buckaroos had a trio of players give Damonte Ranch fits as Lutzow finished with 26 points and Taylor and Shettler had 13 and 12 points, respectively. Diaz added four points, Hales three and Goucher two.
"We jumped out to a quick start and never looked back," added the coach. "Brian had an amazing game. He only had 12 points but he does so much more for us. It was good to see him play a complete game. He is the guy that gets our press going."
The Buckaroos were back on the floor later that night and used a 13-3 run in the first quarter to put away Carson. Taylor scored 10 of his 12 points in the opening period, while Lutzow made the Senators pay in the second and fourth quarters. Lutzow finished the game with 17 points to lead all scorers.
"Our big guys played well the entire tournament," said the coach. "Teams had trouble stopping them. We got out to a quick start against Carson and held on from there. It was a much more balanced attack in that game for us."
Hales finished with eight points, Shettler four, Diaz three, Allen two and Goucher one.
Lowry ran out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter against Galena, but needed another spurt in the final eight minutes of play to knock off the Grizzlies.
Galena went on a 16-8 run in the second quarter to cut the Lowry lead to 26-23 at halftime. The Buckaroos led by just a point after three quarters of play, but pulled away on the strength of a 23-10 spurt in the fourth period.
"Galena always has a quality program and to get a win over them was big," Beatty said. "They were missing one of their better players. Galena's coach wasn't too happy we stayed in a zone defense and were able to beat them that way."
The Grizzlies had no answer for Lutzow, who led all scorers with 31 points. Taylor added 16 points, Shettler nine and Riddle three.
In the championship game, Lowry held a four-point lead at 14-10 in the first quarter, but the Buckaroos couldn't hold on for the win.
"It was a game we could have won," Beatty said. "We had 33 turnovers and that hurt us. It was bittersweet to get to the championship and lose."
Taylor led Lowry with 25 points, while Lutzow and Shettler finished with eight and six points, respectively. Diaz and Allen each had two points.
Lowry travels to Dayton tonight for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff and returns home on Saturday to play South Tahoe at noon.
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