Lowry boys basketball coach Brandon Eastman talks with Matthew Casalez (20) and Txema Bengochea during a game with McQueen.
It was a short Christmas break for the Lowry High School boys basketball team, who wrapped up non-conference play last week with a third-place finish at the Rail City Classic at Sparks High School.
The Buckaroos won three of their four games over the three-day tournament to improve to 5-7 overall.
Lowry opened with two games on Thursday, Dec. 26, winning an 83-78 shootout over McQueen and an easy 64-26 romp over host Sparks.
The Buckaroos lost Northern 3A East foe Fernley 64-44 on Friday, Dec. 27, but finished on a high note with a 66-63 victory over Churchill County for third place.
In the win over McQueen, Lowry used an 8-0 run on the strength of 3-pointers from, Jaden Jimenez and Matthew Casalez, with a bucket from Txema Bengochea in between.
The advantage grew to 20-12 after two more long distance shots, as the Buckaroos led 22-14 after eight minutes of action.
Lowry kept the momentum going at the start of the second quarter, as a breakaway dunk by Brent Kenison got the crowd on its feet and Kayd Garner added a 3-pointer moments later to push the advantage to 29-16.
Casalez added another 3-pointer midway through the second quarter and Travis Crawford converted an old-fashioned, 3-point play to help Lowry keep at 44-33 lead at halftime.
The Lowry High School boys basketball teams get some practice in at the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows.
McQueen trimmed the deficit to single digits early in the third quarter, when Lowry answered back with a 10-0 run, including 3-pointers from Garner and Bengochea and a baseline jumper from Jimenez to push the lead to 54-36.
Three baskets by Jimenez at the beginning of the fourth quarter helped keep the gap in double figures, when the Lancers closed the gap to 68-62 with 4:14 to play.
Byron Jimenez ended the run with a short bucket and Casalez pushed the advantage to 77-70 with 2:12 left to play.
However, McQueen closed gap to 78-76 with 32 seconds to play, when Byron Jimenez and Casalez made 3-of-4 free throws to give the Buckaroos an 81-76 lead. Casalez added two free throws with a couple seconds left to preserve the win.
In the final game on the first day of the tournament, with an 8 p.m. start, Lowry jumped out to an 11-3 lead over Sparks.
A bucket by Jaden Jimenez and then a steal and layup by the senior gave Lowry a 17-5 lead with 3:10 left in the first quarter and the margin did not go below double figures from there. The Buckaroos went on an 8-2 run to go up 25-7.
Lowry led 45-17 at halftime, which included a steal and bank shot from Casalez from 35 feet out at the buzzer. The game was played with a running clock in the final 10 minutes of play.
On Friday night, Lowry took on a familiar foe in Fernley. The Vaqueros are one of the tops teams in the Northern 3A this year. Fernley held a small two-point lead at 13-11 after the first quarter.
Fernley broke open a five-point game to lead 31-19 before Lowry closed the gap to 31-22 at halftime.
Fernley slowly pulled away in the fourth quarter, building a 59-42 lead with 3:40 to play and went on for the win.
In the third-place game on Saturday night, it was another Northern 3A East battle, as Lowry took on Churchill County.
Lowry used a 9-1 run late in the first quarter to lead 14-6 and led 20-9 after a quarter of play. A putback shot by Angus Boyles and then two free throws from Boyles, who was fouled on a fast break pushed the lead to 30-15. Lowry led 33-20 at halftime.
Churchill County trimmed a 14-point Lowry advantage to 48-42 at the start of the fourth quarter and were within three points at 48-45 after making a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Greenwave came back to tie the game at 55 and went in front 56-55 with 3:52 to play after a free throw. Churchill County added two more free throws to lead 58-55 with 3:31 to go.
Lowry tied the game 13 seconds later on a long 3-pointer by Casalez. Trailing by four points with under two minutes to play, Lowry tied the game again after a bucket by Casalez and a layup from Bengochea.
However, after the layup, Bengochea was called for a technical foul for slapping the ball out of the hands of a Greenwave player.
Churchill County made 1-of-2 shots to lead 63-62 with 1:12 to play. The Greenwave appeared to increase the lead to 65-62, but Conner Nelson took a charge to erase the basket.
With 43 seconds left, Jaden Jimenez gave Lowry the lead for good with a left-handed layup.
Lowry sealed the deal with a layup from Nelson off an assist from Jaden Jimenez and a last-second steal by Casalez.
Lowry travels to Elko on Saturday to begin league play at 2:30 p.m. The Buckaroos are back in Elko County on Tuesday to play Spring Creek at 7:30 p.m.
The game was moved to Tuesday due to lack of officials.