After dropping its first two games of the season, the Lowry High School boys basketball team extended its winning streak to five games, sweeping its first home games since February 2020 in beating Hug 56-38 and North Valleys 48-41 to improve to 5-2 on the season.
In the win over North Valleys, Lowry got early baskets from Ismael Magana and Cal Peters to lead 4-3, only to see the Panthers score six points in a row to take a five-point lead at 9-5.
A couple of late baskets by Marcos Rodriguez helped the Buckaroos climb within a point after eight minutes of play at 11-10.
“The biggest thing I got from the North Valleys game was the effort,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “We played really hard and we did a good job of going and getting boards and not allowing second chances. We shot horrible again but these kind of games are huge for us. We are doing other things to make up for our poor shooting. These games will help us down the road and North Valleys was physical. We are not going to win a lot of shoot-outs. More likely we will play a lot of games in the 40s and 50s.”
North Valleys pushed the advantage back to 16-10 in the early part of the second quarter, when Zach Fernandez stopped the run with a bucket and Peters added two putback baskets to tie the game.
A second basket by Hernandez put the Buckaroos up 20-18, but the Panthers quickly answered with their first 3-pointer of the night to retake the lead.
A basket near the end of the half by Giovani Sapien gave Lowry a 22-21 at the break.
A 3-pointer by Lance Brinegar at the start of the third quarter pushed the Lowry lead to 25-21 and the teams traded buckets for much of the third quarter.
Leading by a point and with :00.6 seconds on the clock, Lowry grabbed the momentum for the rest of the day.
The Buckaroos used its height advantage, as Jordan Bills tossed a pass under the basket to Peters, who tipped it in as time expired to put Lowry in front at 31-28.
“That was huge,” added the coach. “Great pass by Jordan and great thinking by Cal to just tip it. The guys are playing so hard and so smart and we got great efforts by kids all weekend. We battled the entire night and I am just proud of them."
Lowry did not trail again, as Fernandez made 9-of-9 free throws down the stretch to secure the win for the Buckaroos.
Coming into the fourth quarter, Lowry was 0-for-6 from the charity stripe.
“I would have fouled us too,” Peters said. “We are 0-for-6 for three quarter and one guy makes nine in a row for us. You have to give Zach some credit there.”
Fernandez had a team-high 15 points and Peters joined him in double figures with 10. Rodriguez contributed eight points, Lance Brinegar seven, Sapien six and Magana two.
“I think we are getting back into the hang of it after missing a year,” said Cal Peters. “It takes time but I think we are slowly getting better. We still have a long way to go but we want to be playing our best basketball going into February.”
Lowry rallies
past Hug
On Friday night, Lowry was on its home floor for the first time since Feb. 15, 2020, and shook off a slow start in the 18-point win over Hug.
Sapien had seven of Lowry’s 11 points in the first quarter, but the Buckaroos trailed 12-11 after eight minutes of action.
Lowry turned the tables on Hug in the second quarter with a 12-2 run, including eight combined points from Peters and Bills.
The Buckaroos led 23-14 at halftime and used a 21-10 run in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
Sapien had a team-high 15 points in the win, and Peters joined him in double figures with 12. Magana added nine points, Bills six, Isaac Danner and Fernandez four each and Iysis Arriola and Brinegar two apiece.
“We are pretty young too,” said Fernandez. “None of us had any varsity experience coming into this season. The younger players are helping out too and we are getting better. We will start knocking down our shots. We are always playing hard and that’s what coach wants from us.”
Lowry has a short Christmas break and heads to Sparks next week for the Railroader Classic. Lowry is scheduled to play Yerington on Dec. 27 and Hug and McQueen on Dec. 28.
The Buckaroos begin Northern 3A East play on Jan. 7 in Fallon at 7:30 p.m.
“We started the season with two 30-point losses and now have four wins over Northern 3A West teams and five wins in a row,” said the coach. “We are going to into a good tournament after Christmas. We have a chance to get better and get ready for league play. It was nice to be back home in front of a full crowd and it was a good team win.”
