In order to stay in the playoff contention that it wanted to, the Lowry High School boys basketball team was looking to pick up two more wins last week to finish out a stretch of four victories in five games.
The Buckaroos did just that, beating Spring Creek and Wooster, but falling to rival Elko to stand at 11-7 overall, 3-2 in the Northern 3A East and 8-2 in the Northern 3A.
“Coach (Dave Schwartz) and I were talking and two weeks ago we were talking and said we have to win four-of-five games to get us to where we want to be. We did that. We beat Dayton, Fernley, Wooster and Spring Creek. We told the kids if we don’t do that, we are in trouble and they stepped up.”
Lowry rolls past Spring Creek
Lowry started its busy week on Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Spring Creek and came away with a 59-26 victory.
The Buckaroos picked up buckets from Cal Peters, Kaiden Boyles, Marcos Rodriguez, Ismael Magana and Zach Fernandez in the opening eight minutes of play to grab an 16-5 lead.
The advantage to grew to 21-5 after Fernandez knocked down a 3-pointer and to 25-8 after a bucket by Justin Scott and another basket from Fernandez. The Buckaroos closed out the dominant first half leading 28-10.
The lead grew to 20 points at 37-17 in the third quarter after a 3-pointer by Jordan Bills and Lowry scored the final six points of the third quarter off of baskets by Ismael Magana and Rodriguez to go in front 43-17.
Rodriguez added the first to baskets of the fourth quarter to push the margin to 47-17 and Lowry did not look back from there.
Rodriguez had a team-high 16 points and was joined in double figures by Magana with 10. Peters added eight points and Fernandez seven.
Lowry holds off Wooster for
crossover win
Lowry was back on hots home floor on Friday night to play Wooster in a Northern 3A crossover game.
The Colts, a member, of the Northern 3A West, used a 3-pointer to take an early lead but watched as the Buckaroos pulled away for a 60-51 win.
After trailing 3-2, Lowry scored the next eight points to take early control of the contest. Fernandez, Magana and Peters had baskets late in the first quarter to push the lead to 18-10.
Giovanni Sapien added six of Lowry’s 12 points in the second quarter to keep the Buckaroos in front, but a late 2-pointer by the Colts cut the gap to 30-26 at halftime.
Sapien added the first field goal of the third quarter to give the Buckaroos a six-point lead, but Lowry went cold from the field and Wooster went on an 11-0 run to go back in front at 37-32.
Sapien stopped the run with his second basket of the quarter and Lowry went back in front 40-39 after baskets by Peters and Sapien, only to see Wooster hit a late basket to go in front 41-40.
It quickly fell apart for Wooster at the start of the final eight minutes of play, as Peters opened the fourth quarter with basket to put Lowry up 42-41 and moments later Wooster was called for two technical fouls.
Fernandez made 3-of-4 foul shots and Rodriguez added a layup after a Buckaroo steal to increase the lead to 47-41 and force Wooster to call timeout with 6:36 to play.
The Colts cut the deficit to a point at 47-46 and 49-48, but Peters answered with a bucket and Fernandez made two free to keep Lowry in front.
With 65 seconds to play, Sapien found Peters under the basket for an old-fashioned 3-point play to up the advantage to 54-48.
The Colts knocked down a 3-pointer withy 54-51 with 46 seconds to play but the Colts did not score again and Lowry made six free throws in those 46 seconds to hold on for the win.
The Buckaroos had four players in double figures, led by Peters with 16. Magana added 15, Sapien 14 and Fernandez 10. Rodriguez netted four points and Iysis Arriola had two points.
“Look at that — 16, 15, 14 and 10,” added the coach. “Giovanni does great things on defense but I ask more points from him. “If all for of those guys hit double digits, we are going to be okay and win some games.”
Elko knocks off Lowry
Lowry closed out the busy week hosting Elko on Saturday afternoon.
The game was moved up about an hour after the girls game was postponed. The Indians grabbed an early lead and went on to win 67-36.
“We are getting better, even today against Elko,” said the coach. “I didn’t want to get our guys overly worked up. Sometimes you do that and worse things happen. Elko took us out of our game. They are a good team. Elko is who they are, but we did what we need to in the rest of our games.”
Elko scored the first seven points of the afternoon, when Lowry closed the gap to 10-7 after a field goal by Fernandez and a 3-pointer by Arriola.
The Indians quickly countered with a run of their own and led 17-9 after eight minutes of action.
A short jumped my Magana closed the gap to six points at the start of the second quarter but Elko countered with a quick 10-0 run.
After a basket by Peters, the Indians finished the first half on a 9-2 run to lead 36-15 at the break.
Elko scored the first 10 points of the second half and eventually led by as many as 35 points at 60-25.
Isaac Danner and Sapien each had six points, Magana and Rodriguez five each, Fernandez four, Sanchez and Arriola three each and Scott and Peters netted two points apiece.
Lowry starts the second half of the Northern 3A East schedule by hosting Churchill County on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“Everything is okay and we are getting better,” Peters said. “Individuals are getting better and the team is getting better. I am so proud of the guys who sit on the bench and don’t get a lot of playing time. They are always in the game, love being a part of the team and work their butts off in practice. They deserve to get some love. Those guys get beat around all the time in practice. When they come in a game and produce —I love that as a coach.”
