When the Lowry High School boys basketball team played Fernley early in December in Winnemucca, everything went right for the Buckaroos.
Lowry knocked down 16 3-pointers on their way to a 100-49 victory.
The Vaqueros entered the contest short-handed, missing four of their starters. So, when the two teams got together for the second meeting of the year, the game figured to be much closer.
In the end it was, and Fernley turned the tables on the Buckaroos, picking up a 66-55 win on Thursday night in Fernley. It was the second league loss in a row for Lowry, who was coming off a home defeat by Churchill County.
Fernley jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the opening quarter, but Lowry quickly erased that deficit with an 18-12 run in the second quarter to lead 28-27 at halftime.
The contest remained close throughout the third quarter, with the teams trading buckets for the most part. The Buckaroos extended the advantage to three points at 44-41.
Fernley caught fire from the field in the fourth quarter, knocking down a majority of its nine 3-point field goals in the final eight minutes of play. Carson Kingston and Tucker Hall each made four field goals and the duo combined for 36 of Fernley’s 66 points.
The Vaqueros outscored the Buckaroos 25-11 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the double-digit win.
Kobe Stoker posted a double-double for Lowry with 19 points and 12 rebounds. JJ Backus and Preston Snow each added eight points. In addition. Backus had four assists, two rebounds and a steal. Max Mavity netted seven points, Klay Garner had four points and 10 rebounds, Anthony Gildone added four points and six rebounds and Alex Ruiz and Michael Casalez had three and two points, respectively. Casalez added four assists and two steals, Chance Huitt had four steals and Mavity dished out three assists.
Lowry routs Sparks
After a day off to regroup, Lowry was back on the road Saturday afternoon to take on Sparks. The Buckaroos bounced back in a big way, beating the Railroaders 70-33 to complete the season sweep over the school.
The Buckaroos raced out to a 35-10 lead at halftime and cruised to the victory from there. Lowry added another 35 points in the second half to improve to 8-3 in the Northern 3A.
The split of the two road games kept Lowry in third place in the Northern 3A. Elko leads the league at 11-0, while Churchill County is 11-1, with its only loss to Elko.
South Tahoe sits in fourth place at 8-4, with Lowry having the tiebreaker over the California school. Fernley (6-6) sits in fifth place and Truckee and Dayton are tied for sixth at 4-7 with Truckee holding the tiebreaker over Dayton.
The top six teams qualify for the Northern 3A Regional Championship in Fallon on Feb. 20-22. The top two teams earn first-round byes.
Lowry celebrates Winterfest this week and hosts North Valleys on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Truckee on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
