ELKO — Going into the final two weeks of the year, the Lowry High School boys basketball team needed just one win in four games to earn a spot in the postseason.
The Buckaroos dropped their final two home games of the season, forcing them to get a win at Spring Creek or Elko this past weekend.
That did not happen for Lowry, as Spring Creek won 47-33 on Friday night and Elko beat Lowry 70-30 on Saturday.
Lowry finished tied for sixth with Dayton at 6-10 but the Dust Devils won the tiebreaker with their wins over Churchill County and Fernley. Dayton had to win its final two games to make the playoffs. They beat Truckee and Fernley to do that.
“We had three winnable games out of the last four and we just could not get a win,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. "We had two at home and two tough ones on the road. We controlled our own destiny until we played Elko and just did not get it done. It is what it is. It’s no fun not to make the playoffs.”
Lowry falls to Elko
Lowry got off to a quick start against Elko off the strength of a 3-pointer by Kyle Sappington and a basket by Brendan Domire to lead 8-4. However, the excitement was short-lived as Indians ended the first quarter on an 18-0 run to lead 23-8. The Buckaroos could not recover from there.
Elko added the first six points of the second quarter to go in front 29-8, when Lowry ended its scoreless streak with a free throw by Darian Solis with 3:51 left in the first half. Scottie Smith picked up the Buckaroo’s first field goal in the first half with two minutes to play. The Indians took a 39-15 advantage into halftime.
Elko netted the first five points of the second half, when Dom Solis stopped the run with a Buckaroo basket. However, the Indians continued to build on their lead in the third quarter and created a running clock with a minute left in the third quarter at 59-22 after a 3-point shot.
Sappington paced the Buckaroos with seven points and Solis added six points. Domire netted five points, Kobe Stoker and Smith four each and Dom Solis and Evan Jeppsen two apiece.
Spartans beat Buckaroos
Lowry got off to a quick start on Friday night, as Domire made two 3-pointers in the first quarter to give the Buckaroos a 13-10 lead. Ren Mattson and Dorsey Naveran also made baskets for Lowry in the opening eight minutes of play.
The offense struggled for Lowry from that point, scoring just 20 points in the final three quarter. Spring Creek rallied to take the lead at 19-18 at halftime and scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to pull away for the win. The Spartans out scored the Buckaroos 15-4 in the third quarter to push the margin to 34-22. Mattson and Domire had the lone baskets for Lowry in the third quarter.
Spring Creek maintained its double-digit lead in the final eight minutes to win by 14 points.
Domire led Lowry with eight points and Oscar Juanes added five. Shai Welsh, Darian Solis and Mattson had four points each, Naveran three. Logan Peters and Smith two each and Kobe Stoker had one point.
“I thoroughly enjoyed coaching this team this year so much,” Peters said. “They were a great team. We have 12 really good young men that I am going to be really proud of in life, moving forward. I would much rather be sitting in this chair not going to the playoffs next week than be on any other team in this league. I truly enjoy these boys. We worked hard right to the end. We had guys give us really good minutes in the last two nights. It’s not the end of the world. We've got to get ready and come back next year.”
Elko (15-1) and Churchill County (12-4) have earned the top two seeds and first-round byes in the Northern 3A Regional Championships that start Thursday at Elko High School.
Spring Creek (11-5) will face Dayton (6-10) on Thursday and Fernley (10-6) and South Tahoe (9-7) will meet in the other quarterfinal.
The Fernley/South Tahoe winner will play Elko on Friday at 8 p.m. and the Spring Creek/Dayton winner plays Churchill County on Friday at 6:20 p.m. The championship is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday.
