Lowry knocks off Churchill County, falls to Fernley in Northern 3A action

Buckaroos hold final playoff spot

Lowry knocks off Churchill County, falls to Fernley in Northern 3A action

Lowry knocks off Churchill County, falls to Fernley in Northern 3A action

The Lowry High School boys basketball team continues to make strides to securing a playoff berth for the regional tournament next month in Winnemucca.

The Buckaroos avenged an earlier loss to Churchill County, with a 59-42 win over Greenwave in front of a large Winterfest crowd Friday in Winnemucca.

“It was another step up for us,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “We are not going down. The best thing about tonight was that everyone did their job. No one came in and went outside of their role. The young kids played more mature than they have been. When your freshman and sophomore is your leading scorer, that is nice to have. The aggressiveness and confidence is nice to see.”

The first three buckets of the night were 3-point field goals, with two of those from the Greenwave.

In between the baskets by Churchill County, sophomore Brendan Domire made a shot from long distance as well. Lowry scored the final five points of the first quarter to lead 10-6.

Brady Lange gave Lowry its largest lead of the first half at 17-10, but Churchill County answered back with an 8-1 run to tie game with just under four minutes left in the first half.

Dom Solis ended the spurt with a runner to the basket and Domire made his second 3-pointer of the night to allow the Buckaroos to hold on to a 25-24 lead at halftime.

The momentum shifted in the third quarter, after Churchill County took a 26-25 advantage on the opening possession of the third quarter. The Greenwave did not score for the remainder of the third quarter.

The Buckaroos finished with an 11-0, which was started by a pair of free throws by sophomore Dorsey Naveran. Lange and Kobe Stoker followed with putback shots and Jed Teichert and Joe Taylor ended the run, giving Lowry a 36-26 lead.

“The third quarter was big for us,” Peters said. “Anytime you hold a team to two points in a quarter, good things are going to happen.”

The Buckaroos continued to share the wealth in the fourth quarter, and pulled away in the final four minutes. Leading by eight points, the Churchill County coach was ejected after two technical fouls. Shortly afterward, the Lowry lead jumped from 45-37 to 53-37, and the Buckaroos were not challenged from there. The Greenwave was called for a third technical foul near the end of the contest.

Stoker had 12 points and nine rebounds for Lowry, while Domire joined him with 12 points and six rebounds. Lange and Taylor each had seven points, Teichert had six, Ren Mattson five, Solis four and Riley Sakurada,

Dylan Kalkoske and Naveran had two points each. Naveran also grabbed 12 rebounds.

“It was a good win for us,” Peters said. “We gave away one up there. It was nice to have Brady back. I thought our defense did a good job. I think we wore them down in the end.”

Lowry comes up short against Fernley

Lowry was looking to finish off the weekend on a high note, with an upset of Fernley on Saturday. The Vaqueros were not willing to comply and left Winnemucca with a 61-44 victory and sole possession of second place in the Northern 3A at 7-2.

“We came out and played hard,” Peters said. “Fernley was just the better team. They are probably the best defensive team in our league. They made it tough for us on offense. We struggled with the ball.”

Fernley scored six of the first eight points of the contest, but Lowry quickly countered with seven consecutive points, capped off by a 3-pointer by Teichert. Lowry held its final lead of the day at 12-11 after a bucket by Lange.

The Vaqueros scored the final two points of the first quarter and started the second quarter with 11 straight points to go in front 25-12.

The Buckaroos did not score their first points of the second quarter until there was 3:05 to play. Lowry returned the favor to get within six points after a 7-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Domire.

“We had a hard time getting going in the second quarter,” Peters said. “We were able to get ourselves back in the game with that run.”

Lowry (3-6 Northern 3A, 5-14 overall) could not hold on to the momentum in the second half, as Fernley slowly pulled away. The game shifted midway through the third quarter, when the Vaqueros scored eight points in a matter of seconds.

Leading 39-29, Fernley converted a 3-point play, which a technical was also called after the play. The Vaqueros made those two free throws and then knocked down a 3-point shot after getting the ball out of bounds after the technical foul. Fernley used a 25-12 run in the third quarter to pull in front 51-33.

The Vaqueros led by as many as 22 points in the forth quarter.

Taylor paced Lowry with 10 points and Domire netted nine. Mattson had six points, Lange five, Naveran and Stoker four each and Sakurada and Teichert had three points apiece.

“I am OK with where we are on our season,” Peters said. “We have some big games ahead of us and we need to get some wins. We aren't going backwards and not plateauing. As long as we keep doing that I will be happy.”

Lowry was scheduled to host Truckee on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. After taking the weekend off, Lowry hosts Spring Creek on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.