WINNEMUCCA - Maybe Lowry High School boys basketball coach Chad Peters can get whistled for a technical foul at the beginning of today's regional semifinal game against Sparks in Reno.
It certainly worked in the second half of Tuesday night's matchup against Truckee in the opening round of the Division I-A North Regional Championships in Winnemucca.
The veteran coach was called for a technical foul in the third quarter after he got upset after a non-call on Josh Watterson as the junior went up for a basket.
Truckee's Graham Millie missed the ensuing free throws and Lowry responded with authority in the final 10 minutes to outscore the Wolverines 28-9 to win 70-32.
"Maybe I should just a technical in the first minute of Friday's game if that will help," said Peters. "It seemed like we picked the intensity up after that. I expect and ask a lot of the kids. We look great at times and get a perfect alley-oop for a dunk. It scares me that we can have that good of a mental focus when everything is clicking. There are other times where we just go through the motions and it drives me crazy. We are at 20 wins right now, but that is not the end goal. I see so much for us."
Lowry's big men, Jesse Studebaker, Garrett Naveran, Chris Dendary and Josh Watterson, combined for Lowry's first 12 points of the night in racing to a 12-2 advantage, four minutes into the game.
The Wolverines managed just one field goal in the first quarter on a shot by Adam Morgan. Truckee would later lose Morgan to an injury at the start of the third period, when he went to go up to block a shot and hit his head on the floor after tumbling over another player.
The Buckaroos (20-5 overall, 8-2 Division I-A, 8-2 Ruby Mountain) led by as many as 15 points in the early minutes of the second quarter, only to see the Wolverines score six of the next eight points, forcing Lowry to call a timeout.
The Buckaroos bounced back from the break in the action and finished off the first half on a 12-4 run to lead by 19 points at halftime. Watterson and Tytus Millikan each had four points during the spurt. Truckee went cold from the field in the last 4:35 of the second quarter, making just one field goal - a 3-point field goal by Millie with less than a minute to play in the first half.
Morgan's injury began a crazy third quarter, which included two technical fouls on Lowry. The first happened when the Buckaroos had six players on the floor and the latter was on Peters. Also in that stretch, Lowry point guard Calvin Connors left the floor with three fouls.
Following the technical foul on Peters, the Buckaroos closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 51-27. Lowry was never threatened from there, closing the game out on a 23-7 spurt, which included two slam dunks by Watterson, including one on an alley-oop.
"I think I need to stop worrying about how much we win by," Peters said. "I want us to go out and do things better, including myself and my coaches. There is a much bigger goal out there for us."
Watterson led all scorers with 21 points, while Naveran added 10 for the Buckaroos. Millikan scored eight, Dendary and Studebaker six each, Josh Shaver and Connors four each and Tanner Lecumberry, Tyler Brumm, Dusty Bryan and Justin Albright had two points apiece.
Millie scored 15 to lead Truckee, while David Burnham and Morgan added four each.
Lowry travels to Reno this weekend for the semifinals and finals of the Division I-A North Regional Championships. The Buckaroos play Sparks tonight at 4:40 p.m. at Wooster High School. Lowry beat Sparks 53-50 in December.
If the Buckaroos win, they will either play Elko or South Tahoe on Saturday for the regional championship at 2 p.m.
"All we are focusing on is Sparks," Peters said. "We are not even talking about the other team. If we don't get by Sparks there is not Saturday. There is no Las Vegas. We are done. We turn our stuff in."
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