The Lowry High School boys basketball team put itself in an early hole to start the Northern 3A season with a 52-48 loss to Dayton on Tuesday night in Winnemucca.
“This is a game that we normally don’t lose at home,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “You have to give Dayton credit. They ran their stuff and ran it well and we didn’t. I didn’t do a very good job of coaching tonight. It only gets tougher from here on out.”
Dorsey Naveran and Kobe Stoker combined to score the first six points for Lowry but Dayton led for much of the first quarter. After an opening bucket by the Buckaroos, the Dust Devils went on a 13-4 run to grab a seven-point lead.
An old-fashioned 3-point play by Oscar Juanes cut the Dayton advantage to 15-13 with 31 seconds left in the first half. However, Dayton scored the final four points, including two free throws after the buzzer when Lowry was called for a foul.
Dayton built a double-digit lead in the second quarter, holding Lowry to just two field goals — one by Stoker and another from Brendan Domire. The Dust Devils finished the first half on a 9-3 run to lead 29-18 at the break.
“We are offensively challenged,” Peters said. “We do not make a lot of shots. We are out of shape. When we do things the right way, we make a mistake on defense. We bury ourselves early. We have done that in every game we have played this year.”
Lowry trimmed the deficit back to single digits to start the third quarter with back-to-back baskets by Domire and Scottie Smith.
The rally was short-lived, as Dayton quickly pushed the lead back to 38-26 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
The Buckaroos crawled back into contention and held the Dust Devils scoreless the rest of the third quarter. After a free throw by Stoker, Naveran connected on a 3-point shot and Juanes knocked own a jumper to close the gap to 38-32 at the start of the fourth quarter.
“We worked so hard battling back in the third quarter,” Peters said. “We do things to get ourselves back in the game and come right back and do something that hinders us. As long as we have the effort, it’s fixable.”
Domonick Solis started a rally for Lowry in the fourth quarter with a 3-point shot to close the Dayton lead to 42-39. Domire followed with two free throws, which trimmed the lead to 42-41.
Dayton followed with two free throws to go back in front 44-41 but Domire made back-to-back baskets to give Lowry a 45-44 lead with 3:22 to play. It was the first Buckaroo lead since 2-0.
“We fight back so hard to take the lead and don’t take care of the ball after that,” Peters said. “We bring the ball down the floor, make one pass and shoot it. We had four returning guys on the floor at the time. I don’t know if we knew they had the lead. Everything falls back on me, thinking the kids understand when they don’t. I need to be a better coach of teaching the kids situations of what we are doing and trying to do. When we get to a certain point, how do we control it?”
That was the last time Lowry led, as Dayton converted on consecutive trips down the floor to go back up 48-45 with 1:57 to play.
Trailing by six points, Domire hit a shot from 25 feet away to bring Lowry within three points at 51-48. The Buckaroos were forced to foul and Dayton made 1-of-2 foul shots to seal the victory.
Domire led Lowry with 17 points and Naveran added seven. Oscar Juanes, Solis and Stoker each scored five points.
Lowry is back at home Saturday to play South Tahoe at 2:30 p.m.
“I’ll take this loss because we battled hard and tried to come back,” Peters said. “This one is hard to swallow. We don’t lose games like this on our home floor.”
Lowry wins two
in Truckee
This past weekend Lowry traveled to Truckee for a two-day tournament.
Lowry dropped a 52-46 decision to Dayton on Friday, Dec. 1.
The Dust Devils raced out to a 17-8 lead in the first quarter and did not trail after that point.
Lowry closed the double figure gap to as single digits in the fourth quarter but could not complete the comeback.
In its second game on Friday, Dec. 1, Lowry beat the Douglas JV.
On Saturday, Dec. 2, Lowry pulled away in the second half to beat Silver Stage 63-49. The Buckaroos led 25-21 at halftime against the 2A school.
