WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School junior varsity boys basketball team continued its gauntlent of games against teams in the Division I North, with a trip last weekend to Reno for the Damonte Ranch Winter Invitational.
The Buckaroos (4-1) collected three wins in four games over the three days. Lowry played twice on Thursday, Dec. 5, and beat McQueen 41-24 and Carson 55-47. The Buckaroos knocked off Spanish Springs 45-34 in the semifinals on Friday, Dec. 6, before losing 56-42 to Reno in the championship game on Saturday.
"We played well for the most part," said LHS head coach Jeff Rinas. "These are the teams we need to play to get better. The biggest thing for us is that we need to play an entire game. At times we take a quarter off and let teams get back into game when they shouldn't."
In the win over McQueen, Lowry used scoring from five different players in the first quarter to grab a 15-10 advantage. The offense went cold in the second quarter as the Lancers outscored the Buckaroos 8-3 to tie the game 18-18 at halftime.
Lowry bounced back at the start of the second half and outscored McQueen 14-2 to take control of the contest. The Lancers scored just six points in the second half.
"I felt we played well and we had just 12 turnovers," Rinas said. "I will take that total every time out. Defensively, we did a good job, and when you hold teams to 24 points, you are going to win games. The offense will come, but defense is the big thing for us. I was very pleased to come out of the gate with that win."
Nathan Lutzow led all scorers with 19 points, while Omar Guerrero and Jared Taylor added nine and eight points, respectively. Chris Tyree and Jacob Von Aspern each scored two points and Christian Riddle had one point.
The Buckaroos were back on the floor later that night and overcame a two-point deficit to Carson in the first quarter. The difference in the contest proved to be the second and third quarters, where the Buckaroos outscored the Senators 37-14 to take a 47-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We started off a bit slow in the first quarter, but got it going in the second and third quarters," added the coach. "When we are in control and take care of the ball, we do good things."
Carson fought its way back into the game in the fourth quarter, outscoring Lowry 21-8 to cut the deficit to under double figures. However, the Senators could get no closer than eight points.
"We didn't take care of the ball and we were making some lazy passes," Rinas said. "The next thing you know, they are making shots and a 21-point lead is down to eight."
Lutzow and Taylor paced the Buckaroos with 20 and 16 points, respectively. Guerrero scored nine points, Brian Shettler and Von Aspern had four each and Trey Marriot two.
In the semifinals, Lowry took on Spanish Springs and were tied 22-22 with the Cougars at halftime. The Buckaroos switched to a zone defense, according to Rinas, in the second half and it paid off.
Spanish Springs scored just 12 points in the final 16 minutes as the Buckaroos pulled away toward the end of the game.
"Again, our defense played well again," said the coach. "We made some changes and the kids showed they could adapt. The first half we did not look so great, but we did our job in the second half. We shut down a good team."
Taylor led the Buckaroos with 13 points, Lutzow added 11, Guerrero five, Dominic Diaz and Von Aspern four apiece and Riddle one.
Lowry faced Reno in the championship game in a rematch of the season opener on Saturday, Nov. 30, in Winnemucca. The Buckaroos won that game in overtime, but the Huskies earned a bit of revenge in the title game.
The Buckaroos used 3-point field goals from Von Aspern and Shettler to take a 19-18 lead in the first quarter. However, 10 turnovers by Lowry in the second quarter allowed Reno to jump in front and they did not relinquish the advantage.
The Huskies led 36-20 at halftime and held the Buckaroos to 12 points in the second half to earn the victory.
"We played well in the first half," Rinas said. "We came out in the third quarter and did not do anything we talked about at halftime. We just went through the motions. I am not sure if they thought we already beat them once, so it would be just as easy the second time. You can't take anything for granted. It was a frustrating loss but we learned some lessons."
Lutzow paced Lowry with 13 points, Von Aspern contributed 11, Shettler nine, Guerrero four and Jacob Hales, Taylor and Tyree finished with two each.
Lowry is off until Friday, Dec. 20, when it opens Division I-A North play at South Tahoe at 4:30 p.m. The Buckaroos wrap up the road trip on Saturday, Dec. 21, with a 12:30 p.m. tip-off at Dayton.
"We have two good weeks of practice to get ready for South Tahoe and Dayton," Rinas said. "There are a lot of things we need to clean up and this little break will do that."
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