The Lowry High School boys basketball team opened up the Northern 3A season at home and stormed to a 2-0 start.
The Bucks had dropped their first two games of the season against Reno and Heritage, before bouncing back to defeat Damonte Ranch and Sparks; starting the year 2-2 in non-conference play.
On Pat Hart Court on Friday night, the gym was rocking, and Lowry did not disappoint, dispatching North Valleys 66-43.
“We had a good first quarter, a good solid start, leading 21-9,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “It’s a lot nicer to roll into the game with that kind of energy. We didn’t really even play that well, but our energy was high. Our effort led the night, all the way until the end of the game.”
The Bucks led 37-20 at halftime, and they stretched it to 55-33 at the end of three quarters.
“We got a lot of minutes out of a lot of guys tonight, and our bigs were really strong inside," Peters said. "Kobe (Stoker), Dorsey (Naveran), Klay (Garner), and Scottie (Smith) showed that they can be dominant players. We got a lot of rebounds, which led to some nice fast breaks. Our guards did a better job tonight also; we got a lot of hands on defense. I don’t think we are near where we need to be, but I think we made a nice step forward; we are 1-0 in league play and we won at home. Our goal is to win every game at home.”
Stoker led the Buckaroos with 18 points; Brendan Domire added nine, while Naveran and Smith had eight apiece.
“All six Lowry teams won tonight, that is a good day for Lowry athletics,” Peters said. “I am really proud of the efforts of all the kids. I told my boys that they need to start enjoying the games a little bit. It seemed like we were kind of in lulls, and we had a 20 point lead most of the game. We had no energy on the bench, like we were not having fun. We need to have a little fun too.”
Saturday Truckee came to town and the Buckaroos sent them home with a 71-34 drubbing.
“I thought our energy was amazing today; usually the Saturday games are a little tougher to get up for; the crowd is not as good, the energy is not as good, but today we were focused," Peters said. "When you come out 20-5 in the first quarter, that sets the tone. We went 19-8 in the second, and a guy hit a three at the buzzer, or we would have have duplicated our first quarter effort. We ran the floor really well.”
Stoker had eight points in the first quarter on his way to another team high total of 16. Michael Casalez had 14 points, while Preston Snow and Smith both had ten.
“Today we did a good job of spreading out our scoring,” Peters said. “Michael shot the ball well, he had four threes. Preston played really well; he was aggressive, crashed the boards, and made the shots in low. We start with Kobe and Dorsey inside, we revolve everything around them; the boys understand that. Domire is doing a lot better job of attacking the basket. He had a really nice dunk, and we fed off of that. That was great.”
Lowry led 39-13 at halftime, and they didn’t let up in the second half, adding 32 more points while holding Truckee to just 21.
“We are starting to understand that if we focus mentally, and approach the game by taking care of the ball, and using our athleticism, and our bigs, we have a good chance of doing some really good things," Peters said. "I am very proud of them. I think all around, our guys got better today. Our defense is getting better, our energy is high, and we are having fun. We need to create our own energy; we don’t need to feed off of the crowd. Our energy should come from us, and tonight we did a good job of that.”
When asked about stand-out players for the game on Saturday, Peters said, “Domire (5) and Dorsey (3) only had a couple of points apiece, but people don’t really understand how much they provide for us. We are starting to figure out where our bread is buttered, and it is kind of nice, I like it. We are taking good shots.”
The Buckaroos hit the road next weekend, travelling to Spring Creek on Friday, Dec. 21 for a 7:30 p.m. game.
“The toughest road trip in the league is going to Spring Creek and Elko,” Peters said. “The Spring Creek coach is a kid who played for me, Jesse Zamudio. I love him dearly, he is a great kid and it is his first year coaching varsity. That will be fun for us to play against each other for the first time.”
Lowry moves on to Elko Saturday, Dec. 22 at 2:30 p.m.
“Until someone knocks Elko off the top of the pole, they are the leader in our league; hopefully we can go to Elko and get a win there. But we have to beat Spring Creek first, that is the most important one. We aren’t even going to talk about Elko until Saturday. If we can get one Friday, and then get another one on Saturday, we will be 4-0 in league play going into Christmas; that would be a very nice Christmas present for us.”
The boys get a holiday break after that. Carson comes to Winnemucca on Thursday, Jan. 3, and then Lowry hosts South Tahoe on Friday, Jan. 4.
