ELKO —After seeing the 2020-21 season canceled due the Covid pandemic, Lowry High School boys basketball coach Chad Peters came into this season not knowing what to expect as his team took to the floor for the first time in over 650 days.
No one on the current team has any varsity playing experience. Cal Peters moved up and practiced but did not play in a game with the 2019-20 squad that went 18-8 overall and third in the Northern 3A.
“At the start of November, I would have told you I did not know what to expect this year,” said Peters. “Now, I can tell you that’s different after we played this weekend. The last time the juniors played they were freshmen and that is a different style of basketball to what they are playing now. We have a great group of seniors but they are juniors in basketball playing time. They showed me some good things on the floor.”
The Buckaroos were in Elko this past weekend for as three-day tournament, seeing teams from Utah, Idaho and Nevada.
Lowry took to the hardwood on Thursday night and suffered a 73-35 loss to Hunter (West Valley, Utah).
“We came into the first game of the year, basically with 13 practices in two years,” Peters said. “Hunter is an athletic team and would have been a tough opener for any team in any year. It looked like it was the first game we played in two years.”
The contest was back-and-forth in the opening eight minutes of play, as Ismael Magana (5) and Cal Peters (4) combined for nine of Lowry’s 11 points in the first quarter, as the game was tied at 11-11.
The Wolverines pulled away in the middle two quarters, including a 27-10 run in the second quarter to lead 38-21 at halftime.
Hunter knocked down three 3-pointers, as they pulled away.
Hunter broke the game open after the halftime break with a 28-7 run, forcing a running clock in the third quarter.
Magana and Peters each had eight points to lead Lowry, Marcos Rodriguez added six, Iysis Arriola five and Zach Fernandez, Giovani Sapien, Lance Brinegar and Isaac Danner two apiece.
Next up for Lowry on Friday night was Twin Falls, Idaho, with the Bruins collecting a 69-37 win over the Buckaroos.
Twin Falls scored nine of the first 11 points of the night, before settling for an 11-7 lead after the first quarter. Peters scored six of Lowry’s seven points in the opening eight minutes of play.
“It looked like our second game of the year and we came out, but we played much better,” Peters said “I liked that we came out and played hard and that’s what I wanted to see. If we don’t play hard, then I will get after them. Right now, we are in the first week of December and hadn’t played a game in forever. I am interested and anxious to see where we will be in the first week of January and the first week of February.”
Twin Falls netted the first 11 points of the second quarter to build a 22-7 lead, when Jordan Bills stopped the run with a 17-foot jump shot. After a put back basket by Rodriguez, the Bruins countered with another run to lead 32-16 at halftime.
“We need to take better care of the ball and have fewer turnovers,” Peters said. “We gave up way too many points off of turnovers. We allowed 73 and 69 points in the first two games. I told the guys if we can keep teams in the 40s and 50s, we will be okay. If we let teams score 70 points a night we are going to be in trouble. Twin was a much different team than Hunter. Hunter was athletic as a team we will see all year. Twin was well disciplined and runs their stuff well. We had to adjust to that.”
The Bruins continued to pull away in the third quarter, opening with an 9-3 run. The lead grew to 57-25 after the third quarter. Each team scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
“I was pleased that we showed improvement,” said the coach. “We still need to work on our free throws. We were never 2-2 from the free throw line. We are a team that is going to need to make those.”
Peters had a team-high 17 points, Brinegar, Danner and Magana three each, Bills, Rodriguez, Sapien and Fernandez had two each.
Lowry closed out the tournament with a 52-47 win over Reno after having a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“It was one of those games where we need to learn how to finish,” Peters said. “If you look at the final score it was a five-point game but it really wasn’t. They made a run at us and it was nice to see us hold and get a good win to end the weekend.”
Lowry led 25-21 at halftime and pulled away with a 19-4 in the third quarter, behind 10 points from Magana, five from Bills and four by Sapien.
The Buckaroos saw a 47-32 advantage drop to 47-45 with a minute to play, when Fernandez made two free throws to push the lead back to four points at 49-45. Fernandez would make three more free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
Magana and Fernandez paced Lowry with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Sapien and Peters had eight points apiece, Brinegar six, Bills five and Danner two.
“I am proud of my seniors and what they have shown the first couple weeks of the season,” Peters said. “I like what I am seeing from Lance, Jordan, Marcos and Isaac.”
Lowry is back on the road this weekend for crossover games against the Northern 3A West. Lowry is at Truckee on Friday at 6 p.m. and Sparks on Saturday at 1 p.m.
