Dalton Kaady looks for an opening through Lowry's defense during Fallon's rivalry game against the Buckaroos.
After an intense back and forth game in the Elmo Dericco gym, the Greenwave snatched a one-point win from the Lowry Buckaroos on Tuesday.
With less than a minute on the clock, Winnemucca was ahead. The Buckaroos were keeping the ball from Fallon, but in a surprise move, Fallon freshman Elijah Jackson snatched the ball and drove it home for a final basket to seal the Greenwave’s 50-49 win.
Fourth-year Fallon coach Brad Barton said this was the team’s first win against Lowry in his time as coach.
“It was a good win for me,” he said.
The first quarter maintained a near constant stalemate. While both teams tried to break away, the other was right on their heals; the back and forth ties and leads came to a close with Fallon ahead 15-13.
In the second quarter, the Greenwave started breaking away. They increased their lead, but Lowry kept pulling them back. The Buckaroos eventually edged into the lead, holding it to the end of the quarter, 25-24.
As the second half began, Lowry began opening its lead. Fallon kept close, though, and were never too far behind. As time ticked down, the Greenwave tied the score and gained the lead; Lowry retook it thanks to a basket and penalty shot combo from Brady Lange. Despite the set back, Fallon pushed and closed the quarter with a tie at 39.
The final quarter was the most intense yet with both teams pushing hard. Lowry opened with a quick lead, but Fallon stayed close behind. As the end of the game approached, Christian Nemeth tied the game; Lowry took the lead again and it was looking close to a 49-48 Lowry victory. Nemeth sank a free throw, though, and set the stage for Jackson’s winning shot.
“We were trying to look for opportunities to create stuff for all of us,” Jackson said of the team effort. “We went back and forth and struggled a lot, but we came out with a win.”
Barton said it was exciting that the Wave came from behind. He said the team played with lots of confidence and stepped up their game.
There are still some areas needing work, though. Barton said the players turned the ball over more than he liked. Lowry also played in an unexpected way they had not prepare for; the coach plans to look back at their game plans and adjust things for those strategies.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board, sit down and work some offense to go against that zone,” he said. “Once they jumped into that 3-2 zone, we struggled with that for a little bit trying to find some opportunities to score out of it.”
Nemeth and Jackson both had great games. There was barely a time when Nemeth was off the court, and both players scored many points — Nemeth 23 and Jackson 9. Barton was also happy to have Dalton Kaady back on the floor; this was Kaady’s first game after recovering from a football injury. The coach said his leadership helped the younger players. Kaady scored 10 points.
“He (Kaady) helped the kids manage the pace of the game,” Barton said. “He’s like a general on the flood, makes sure the guys’ in the right spot.”
The boys’ basketball team had a nonconference game in Lovelock yesterday and will play in Fernley on Tuesday. Barton said he would use the Lovelock game to test some of the strategies for Fernley.
“Since it’s a nonconference game, we’re going to go there and have a good time and really work on things we need to adjust,” he said.
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