ELKO - A win is a win anyway you can get it, and the Lowry High School junior varsity boys basketball team was more than happy to leave Elko on Wednesday night with a 55-50 victory.
Playing with just nine guys, the Buckaroos raced to a 29-11 lead in the second quarter, before holding on to improve to 18-2 overall, 9-0 in the Division I-A and 6-0 in the Ruby Mountain.
"We jumped out to an early lead but at crucial times when we needed to take care of the ball we didn't do it," said LHS head coach Jeff Rinas. "We struggled at times and tried to do too much. On the other hand, I will take a win every time I come to Elko. It's a tough environment to play in and we held our composure at the end."
Christian Gray (eight) and Thomas Schwartz (four) combined for 12 of the Buckaroos' 14 first-quarter points as Lowry held a slim three-point advantage.
A technical foul on Elko in the second quarter helped Lowry score the first 15 points of the period to increase the lead to 29-11. Gray had seven of those points and Sterling Dennis hit a 3-point field goal to give the Buckaroos a comfortable margin.
Elko went scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half, when Robert Saenz hit back-to-back 3-points shots to get the Indians back in the game. Elko trimmed the deficit from 18 to 11 points after closing out the first half on an 11-4 run.
Gray opened the second half with his second 3-point field goal of the day to push the lead back to 14 points. However, Elko found its shooting touch from the outside as Saenz knocked down two more 3-point shots and teammates Ozzy Moreno and Jason Wilson each hit buckets from long range to close the gap to 41-35 with 2:25 left in the third period.
After calling a timeout, Lowry regrouped and picked up baskets from Omar Guerrero, Schwartz and Gray to go back in front, 47-35.
"We just didn't take very good care of the ball in the third quarter," Rinas said. "We had seven turnovers in the first half and we committed six in the third quarter. We just have to handle the ball better."
The Buckaroos picked up two quick baskets at the start of the fourth quarter to remain in front by double digits, but a technical foul on the Buckaroos allowed the Indians to climb back into the contest.
Elko trimmed the lead to three points with a minute to play but were called for an intentional foul 30 seconds later. Dennis stepped up to the free throw line and hit both shots to seal the victory for the Buckaroos.
"I was happy with the kids," Rinas said. "We could have let this one get away from us. We will take two wins in a season over Elko anytime."
Gray led all scorers with 25 points, while Guerrero and Schwartz added eight apiece. Dennis netted six and Josh Rose, Jacob Von Aspern, Andy Mendoza and Chris Tyree scored two points each.
Lowry kept its perfect Ruby Mountain League record intact last weekend with a pair of wins. The Buckaroos traveled to Ely on Friday, Jan. 25 and came away with an easy 52-11 victory. Lowry moved on to West Wendover on Saturday and claimed a 71-57 win over the Wolverines.
Lowry shutout White Pine in the third quarter and held the Division III school to four points or fewer in each of the other three periods.
The Buckaroos picked up nine points from Dawson Cassinelli in the first quarter and Guerrero and Roberto Sanchez added five and four points, respectively, as Lowry jumped out to a 20-4 lead.
Lowry outscored White Pine 26-2 in the second and third quarters and the game was played with a running clock for all of the fourth quarter due to the NIAA 40-point mercy rule.
Cassinelli equaled the total of White Pine with 11 points. Guerrero added nine, Rose, Schwartz and Sanchez had six each, Gray four, Luke Logan three, Von Aspern, Mendoza and Kyle Tarr two each and Tyree one.
"We came out and got after it right off the bat," Rinas said. "Everyone got a chance to play a lot of minutes."
Lowry did all of its damage against West Wendover in the first and third quarters, scoring 52 points, to the Wolverines' 19. West Wendover outscored Lowry in the second and fourth periods.
"We have done that quite a bit this year," added the coach. "We need to find a way to put four complete quarters together. We came out in the first and third quarters and dominated the game. Then we take the second and fourth quarters off."
Gray was one of three players that reached double figures, leading Lowry with 18 points. Guerrero and Sanchez added 13 and 10 points, respectively, as every Buckaroo player scored.
Schwartz finished with eight points, Cassinelli seven, Rose and Mendoza four each, Von Aspern, Logan and Tyree had two points apiece and Tarr one.
Lowry is at home today to face Battle Mountain at 4:30 p.m. The Buckaroos won the first meeting 51-41.
"This is a tough week with Winterfest and the Elko game being pushed back a day," Rinas said. "We have to come out and be ready to play Battle Mountain. They have a couple of kids that we need to shut down."
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