Last week’s road trip to South Tahoe and Dayton provided two completely different styles of basketball for the Lowry High School boys.
The Buckaroos were in South Tahoe on Friday, Jan. 10, where the game was played at a quick pace up and down the floor.
On Saturday, Jan. 11, Lowry was in Dayton, where the game was played a snail’s pace.
Lowry was able to adapt to both styles, beating South Tahoe 82-68 and Dayton 39-35 to improve to 7-1 in the Northern 3A and 10-4 overall.
In the win over South Tahoe, Lowry got off to a quick start and led by double figures early in the second quarter.
However, the Buckaroos had to change the lineup around a bit, when Kobe Stoker left in the second quarter due to an ankle injury.
“I don’t think that kid has ever played a full four quarters at South Tahoe,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “He has gotten hurt every time we go up there. But, he will be ready for Fallon.”
Lowry led 19-14 after eight minutes of action and outscored the Vikings 20-10 in the second quarter. Peters was pleased with the way the team came ready to play.
“We usually haven’t played well up there in the past,” said the coach. “It’s a tough place to play and the gym was packed. We came out and shot the ball well. JJ (Backus) and Michael (Casalez) came out shooting hot and we need them to shoot the ball. We went inside right away to Klay (Garner) and Kobe and got some easy buckets. When Kobe got hurt, we switched some things up. That is a reason we brought Cal (Peters) up to the varsity. With Preston (Snow) out right now, we truly have two post players in Kobe and Klay. Anthony (Gildone) and Mason (Ellingford) can play on the post, but in reality they are guards. We will look at it and she what we can do.”
Lowry led 60-36 after three quarters and the advantage increased to as much as 30 early in the fourth quarter, when South Tahoe rallied for 32 points in the final eight minutes of play.
“That fourth quarter was very misleading,” Peters said. “We didn’t play very good defense at all. We did a lot subbing with guys that are not used to playing with each other that much. Everyone wanted to get out there at that point. Luckily, we did a very good job in the first three quarters to build a big lead. It was a big game for us. If we would have lost that game, we could be looking at fourth place in the standings. Right now, we are tied for second.”
Backus had a game-high 23 points, behind two 3-point field goals, to go with seven assists and four rebounds.
Garner added 17 points, nine rebounds, three steals and an assist.
Max Mavity knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points, Casalez had nine and Anthony Hemp seven. Casalez contributed a team-high eight assists and the senior grabbed three rebounds.
Stoker added six points, Chance Huitt three and Alex Ruiz, Ellingford and Gildone each had two points.
Lowry gets
past Dayton
In was the exact opposite style on Saturday afternoon in Dayton and Peters noted the Buckaroos did not help themselves at the start as well.
Lowry led 12-11 after the first quarter and watched Dayton take the air out of the ball in the second quarter, holding the Buckaroos to just three points. Dayton led 21-15 at the break.
“We didn’t start well and play horrible defense,” added the coach. “We didn’t shoot the ball well and didn’t take anytime on offense. Once they get a lead, they run flex on offense and they just slow it down. I decided I wasn’t going to chase guys around the floor and get tired. In the second quarter they had a lead and I let them hold the ball for the three minutes with the ball under their arm. Mostly, I wanted to do some things in the second half and I didn’t want to show it tin the first half.”
Lowry turned the tables in the third quarter, with its own 10-3 run to lead 25-24 and the Buckaroos held on from there to secure the victory.
“The guys did some good things in the third quarter and took care of things down the stretch,” Peters said. “We always have close games there. They don’t have many wins against us, but one of them cost us a trip to the playoffs. It is what it is.”
Garner had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Buckaroos, while Backus and Mavity added nine and six points, respectively. Gildone contributed five points, Casalez four, hemp three and Huitt two.
Lowry hosted Churchill County (Fallon) on Friday and results were not available at press time.
The Buckaroos travel to Fernley on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip and Sparks on Saturday for a 4 p.m. start.
