The final score may not provide an accurate story for Friday’s Northern 3A boys basketball game between Fallon and visiting Lowry.
Although Fallon stopped the Buckaroos by 32 points, Lowry made Fallon scratch and claw for every point and battled Fallon continuously under the boards in their league game at the Elmo Dericco Gym.
“They’re one of the bigger, best talented teams we’ve faced,” said Fallon coach Chelle Dalager. “They have good post players, probably the best we have seen so far.”
Dalager’s Greenwave broke open a close game in the second quarter and then rolled to. 66-34 Northern 3A win Friday night to remain in second place with a 6-1 record, one game behind Elko, and 14-1 overall.
Lowry falls to 5-2 and 8-4 overall after having a three-game winning streak snapped.
“Fallon is one of the better teams in our league,” said Lowry head coach Chad Peters. “We went into this game thinking, let’s just go play, we didn’t come in with a specific game plan. In the first quarter we were only down by three, but in the second quarter we kind of fell apart. We wanted to be patient, and play hard defense, and we did all those things pretty well. But in the second quarter we kind of lost sight of all that when there was a hard foul by Oscar (Juanes) against Fallon’s best player, Elijah Jackson. I thought it was a good play, but the refs thought it was a little too hard. It changed the momentum of the game, and they got some extra free throws off of it. We held him to only eight points in the game and he is averaging 25 points agame, so I was pleased with that.”
Both Northern 3A rivals scrapped and exchanged baskets in the opening quarter with Lowry launching the first salvo on two baskets, the second a long corner shot from inside the 3-point line from 6-foot-5-inch forward Dorsey Navaren.
The Wave gradually chipped away at the 4-0 deficit on Elijah Jackson’s free throw and Hayden Strasdin’s soft layup from the right side.
Lowry and Fallon matched up well in the first quarter with neither team pulling away. With 2:44 left in the quarter, Fallon grabbed the lead on Jackson’s 3-foot turnaround jumper but on Fallon’s next trip down the floor, Lowry guard Oscar Juanes Jackson was called for intentionally fouling Jackson, and the Fallon junior made 1 of 2 free throws.
Teammate Trey Rooks powered his way along the baseline for a power layup in traffic after Strasdin fed him the ball, but Navaren connected on a free throw with 14 seconds left to slice the Fallon lead to 8-5.
Dalager said Jackson suffered a mild sprain when he was fouled, and that caused him to slow down on offense. Once Fallon settled into its game in the second quarter, Dalager said was able to push the ball and take advantage of its quickness.
Fallon opened the second period with a basket and free throw from Avery Strasdin, but Navaren responded with a free throw, and Juanes worked himself in for a layup. Both teams then traded inside shots. After being double teamed in the first quarter, the Wave’s Thomas Steele broke free for a layup, and Kobe Stoker, who led Lowry with 13 point, had a putback shot in his second attempt almost 3 minutes into quarter to keep the Bucks with 3 points, 13-10.
Lowry’s shooting, though, turned cold for the final 5 minutes with the Wave cranking up the heat for a 17-1 run. Strasdin ignited the Greenwave with a backdoor layup on Rooks’ assist and another inside basket.
In between three free throws from John Cooley and Steele, the Wave missed consecutive 3-pointers until McFall’s left-side layup. Steele spent more time at the free-throw line, sinking five baskets. Cooley, who leads the state with 37 3-point shots, nailed a trey from the left corner at the 1:24 mark to give Fallon a 25-11 lead, and McFall’s left-handed layup ended Fallon’s scoring.
Lowry’s Klay Garner ended Lowry’s drought with a free-throw less than a minute remaining before halftime.
Dalager said she was so intense in the watching the game, she didn’t realize how much Fallon pulled ahead.
“I’ll be in the game, and when I did look up, I didn’t recognize how we blew the game apart,” she said.
Foul trouble followed both teams going into the second half with Cooley and Jackson each having three, but they played smart and effectively in Fallon’s 21-16 third quarter.
Early on, though, each team traded baskets to begin the second half.
Stoker’s putback 1:09 into the quarter began the scoring, but Steel followed 35 seconds later with a baseline layup, and Lowry’s Joseph Backus chimed in with a reverse layup. The Bucks’ Michael Casalez nailed a corner trey to cut Fallon’s lead to 32-19.
Hayden Strasdin answered the call for the Wave. The lanky 6-6 center stretched his arm out for a lay-in, and after Lowry turned the ball over on its next trip down court, Strasdin caught a long pass and reached in for a layup.
The Fallon senior and Steel each scored 10 points in the game to lead Fallon.
“Hayden stepped up on defense, and he was able to defend against their tall players (Stoker and Navaren),” Dalager said. “He’s also one of our best shooters at 57 percent.”
As with the second quarter, Fallon pulled way on a 15-8 run as Cooley, McFall’s and Steele took over with their inside shooting. Rooks also gave Fallon some muscle under the basket with a layup, and Stradsin took another fee for a right-side layup.
With Lowry’s defense pulling back to guard the inside game, Avery Strasdin and Jackson each unloaded 3-point baskets, Strasdin from top of the key and Jackson from the right side. Jackson also contributed to Fallon’s first points of the final quarter when he threw a loss ball to steel, who went in for a layup.
"I made a decision to reward the guys that have been working hard in practice and doing it my way," Peters said. "They have bought in and realize that we have to stick to the game plan.”
Dalager said Avery Strasdin is growing and improving as are the rest of reserves.
“Our bottom five are better that the other teams’ bottom five,” Dalager said, adding the players must face the starting five day in and day out in practice.
Dalager’s reserve players saw plenty of action in the fourth quarter.
Shaw Lee scored 5 points, three from the free-throw line, and Avery Strasdin was fouled on a layup. Brock Richardson scored four of Fallon’s final five points on a pair of layups, the last coming on a fast break.
Dalager said the Greenwave loves to share the basketball.
“We had balanced scoring, and it’s great to talk about four people in double figures,” Dalager said. “If you shut one down, another steps up.”
Lowry falls in double OT to Reed
On Saturday at Reed the Buckaroos lost a 77-76 double overtime thriller to the 12-2 Raiders.
“At Reed, my theory was that they are one of the top teams in the state,” Peters said. “I asked my boys to play as hard as they can; give me that for 32 minutes and let us see what the results are.”
“Dorsey (Naveran) and Brendan (Domire) were both amazing, and Oscar and Kobe (Stoker) just continue to be themselves; Scottie Smith came in and shot 5-5 from the floor, giving us 10 points off the bench. In the fourth quarter with only four seconds to play, Dorsey got fouled while shooting a three point shot. He made all three free throws to put us into overtime. Then, Domire hit both of his free three throws at the end of the first overtime to put us through to the second.”
The Raiders prevailed in the end despite Lowry’s efforts.
Lowry sits at 8-5 overall and 5-2 in league play now.
The Bucks return home for a 7:30 p.m. game against Fernley on Friday, and they host Sparks at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
