It doesn’t always have to be pretty when you go on the road and that was the case for the Lowry High School boys basketball team this past weekend.
The Buckaroos began a stretch of crossover games against the Northern 3A West against Truckee and Sparks.
Lowry led 2-0 against Truckee but did not go in front again until overtime, escaping with a 47-44 overtime win over the Wolverines.
Lowry played at Sparks on Saturday and after leading 34-2 at halftime, cruised to a 54-19 victory to improve to 3-2 on the season.
“We just shot really poor at Truckee,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “We shot like 21 percent from the field. They are a big team and just sat in a zone defense. We could not get the ball inside like we usually do with that zone. We settled for long-distance shots and didn’t make them. They were good shots; we just could not make them. We were 6-for-24 from the 3-point line. Our defense was a lot better in the second half. Luckily Truckee shot just 50% from the free throw line.”
After making the opening bucket of the game, Truckee scored 15 of the next 17 points to lead 15-4 after eight minutes of play. Ismael Magana and Cal Peters had the lone buckets for Lowry in the first quarter.
Lowry found some success from beyond the arc in the second quarter, as Jordan Bills knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Zach Fernandez added one from long distance.
The Buckaroos were able to get the deficit under double figures by halftime, trailing 28-20 at the break.
The Lowry defense was the difference in the second half, holding Truckee to just 14 points in the last 16 minutes.
Fernandez nailed his second 3-pointer of the game in the third quarter, as the Buckaroos cut the Wolverines’ lead to 34-30.
Lowry tied the game in the final seconds on a layup by Peters and then had to withstand last-second shots by Truckee to go to overtime.
The Wolverines air balled a shot with a couple seconds left but got the rebound and passed it back out for another shot that was good, but it came after the buzzer.
“Truckee is a tough place to play and we battled the entire way,” Peters said. “We stuck to it until the very end. We made some adjustments in the second half and moved Giovani (Sapien) inside with Cal and helped us out quite a bit.”
Lowry picked up the first basket of overtime and held Truckee to just two points in the extra four-minute period. Magana and Peters had the baskets for Lowry in overtime.
“We found a way to win and I like how we stayed in the game, even though we had an off-night shooting,” Peters said.
Magana led Lowry with nine points, Lance Brinegar and Fernandez each had eight points and Peters seven. Sapien and Bills scored seven points each and Marcos Rodriguez had three points.
“Zach played so well offensively and defensively,” added the coach. “He got after a couple loose balls and picked them up and was all over the floor. We were lucky to get out of Truckee. But this early in the season we will take a road win no matter where it is at.”
Lowry cruises
past Sparks
It was a much easier Saturday afternoon for Lowry who jumped out to a 34-2 halftime lead en route to a 54-19 win. The Buckaroos led 19-0 after eight minutes of play and held the Railroaders to one field goal in the first half.
Brinegar and Rodriguez paced Lowry with 17 and 10 points, respectively. Magana added nine points, Sapien six and Justin Scott, Isaac Danner and Bills had four points apiece.
Lowry will make its home debut this weekend, starting with Hug on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and North Valleys on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
“We are so excited to be back on our home floor,” Peters said. “It seems like forever since we have been on that floor in a game. We hope to put a good show on for our fans.”
