In a season where every win is going to be an important one, the Lowry High School boys basketball team collected two victories this past weekend on its home floor.
In a low-scoring game on Friday night, the Buckaroos got a free throw from Lance Brinegar with less than three seconds to play to break a 33-33 tie and give Lowry a 34-33 win, as Dayton couldn’t get off s good shot as time expired.
“It was a wild night and we knew what kind of game we were going to get,” said LHS head coach Chad Peters. “The biggest thing we did was that we ran our stuff and didn’t get caught up in the other stuff. We stayed focus in what we needed to do and what they were doing. We ran that final play and we got a free throw from one of our best free throw shooters.”
Dayton led 28-25 with five minutes left to play in the contest, when Brinegar tied the game with a 3-pointer. The Buckaroos took the lead 30-28 with 2:30 to play on a bucket by Iysis Arriola, when the Dust Devils tie the game at 30 with 97 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession, Lowry rook nearly a minute off the clock by running its offense and took the advantage back at 32-30 after a layup by Cal Peters. Following a Dayton turnover, Lowry’s Zach Fernandez made 1-of-2 free throws to push the lead to 33-30. On the next possession, Dayton tied the game at 33 when Isaiah Powell knocked down a 3-pointer to set up the final sequence for the Buckaroos.
“We got our layups, we ran our stuff, got good looks and scored on our out of bounds plays,” added the coach. “I am very proud of how hard our guys played. I am very proud of how smart they played at the end. We were in foul trouble most of the night and got frustrated but overcame it. These are all the games are going to be. It’s a huge win. We can not lose at home. We are going to need every win we can get.”
Lowry managed just five points in the opening eight minutes of play and trailed by three points after baskets by Brinegar and Peters. The Dust Devils had its largest lead of the night at 15-11, when Arriola made a 3-pointer to cut the gap to one. Dayton eventually led 17-14 at the break.
The third quarter was tied four different times, with Brinegar making a 3-pointer to tie the game at 17 to start the second half.
Brinegar had a team-high 10 points, while Ismael Magana and Peters each had six points. Arriola netted five points, Marcos Rodriguez four and Fernandez three.
Lowry rallies to knock off Fernley
Offense was hard to find once again in the first half against Fernley, as Lowry made just four field goals in the first 16 minutes of play. However, the Buckaroos rallied in the second half and beat the Vaqueros 52-45 in front of a full house on Saturday afternoon that honored state champion basketball and wrestling teams from 1992, 2002 and 2012 — as well and the new Lowry Hall of Fame class.
“They (Fernley) came in averaging 56 points a game and we held them to 45. Six of those were 3-pointers in the final seconds. I was very happy with our defensive effort. We had to play everybody because of foul trouble. We needed those guys. There were a lot of distractions tonight with the state champions and Hall of Fame. All I told them is come ought and show everyone we are still carrying on the tradition of Lowry basketball.”
Fernley opened the contes with a 3-pointer — its only points of the first eight minutes, as Lowry led 8-3 off of baskets by Arriola, Giovani Sapien and Peters. Magana also had to free throws.
Magana had Lowry’s lone field goal of the second quarter, as Fernley came back with a 16-7 run to lead 19-15 at halftime.
The Buckaroos found itself in foul trouble early in the third quarter, as Sapien had to go to the bench with four fouls with 4:37 left in the period.
Lowry tied the game at 26 on a putback basket by Magana and took the lead at 31-28 when Brinegar made a 3-pointer. With 22 seconds left in the third quarter, Rodriguez was forced to the bench with his fourth foul.
Peters scored the first five points of the fourth quarter for Lowry and Sapien added two free throws to push the lead to 39-36. The Buckaroos made just three field goals in the final eight minutes, but was 14-of-20 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and was 23-of-31 from the stripe in the game.
Lowry led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, before the Vaqueros made two 3-pointers in the final seconds.
Peters and Magana paced Lowry with 17 and 12 points, respectively. Fernandez added nine points, Sapien six, Kaid Sanchez and Arriola two each and Rodriguez one.
“I felt Iysis and Ismael played their best games of the season,” Peters said. “Gio and Zach did good things on defense. It was a good effort by all our guys.”
Lowry is scheduled to travel to Spring Creek on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Buckaroos are back home to play Wooster on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Elko on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
