The Lowry High School boys basketball team continues to make strides to securing a playoff berth for the regional tournament next month in Winnemucca.
The Buckaroos avenged an earlier loss to Fallon, with a 59-42 win over the Greenwave in front of a large Winter-fest crowd Friday in Winnemucca.
“It was another step up for us,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “We are not going down. The best thing about tonight was that everyone did their job. No one came in and went outside of their role. The young kids played more mature than they have been. When your freshman and sophomore is your leading scorer, that is nice to have. The aggressiveness and confidence is nice to see.”
The first three buckets of the night were 3-point field goals, with two of those from the Greenwave.
In between the baskets by Fallon, sophomore Brendan Domire made a shot from long distance as well. Lowry scored the final five points of the first quarter to lead 10-6.
Brady Lange gave Lowry its largest lead of the first half at 17-10, but Fallon answered back with an 8-1 run to tie game with just under four minutes left in the first half.
Dom Solis ended the spurt with a runner to the basket and Domire made his second 3-pointer of the night to allow the Buckaroos to hold on to a 25-24 lead at halftime.
The momentum shifted in the third quarter, after Fallon took a 26-25 advantage on the opening possession of the third quarter. The Greenwave did not score for the remainder of the third quarter.
Fallon coach Brad Barton said the Greenwave went cold after halftime. He said they had trouble making any baskets and the players got frustrated.
“We played a better fourth quarter, but by that time it was too late,” he said.
The Buckaroos finished with an 11-0, which was started by a pair of free throws by sophomore Dorsey Naveran. Lange and Kobe Stoker followed with putback shots and Jed Teichert and Joe Taylor ended the run, giving Lowry a 36-26 lead.
“The third quarter was big for us,” Peters said. “Anytime you hold a team to two points in a quarter, good things are going to happen.”
The Buckaroos continued to share the wealth in the fourth quarter, and pulled away in the final four minutes. Leading by eight points, the Greenwave coach was ejected after two technical fouls. Shortly afterward, the Lowry lead jumped from 45-37 to 53-37, and the Buckaroos were not challenged from there. The Greenwave was called for a third technical foul near the end of the contest.
Stoker had 12 points and nine rebounds for Lowry, while Domire joined him with 12 points and six rebounds. Lange and Taylor each had seven points, Teichert had six, Ren Mattson five, Solis four and Riley Sakurada, Dylan Kalkoske and Naveran had two points each. Naveran also grabbed 12 rebounds.
“It was a good win for us,” Peters said. “We gave away one up there. It was nice to have Brady back. I thought our defense did a good job. I think we wore them down in the end.”
Fallon’s Elijah Jackson led the Wave with 15 points. Dalton Kaady scored nine and Hayden Strasden tallied eight. Brenden Larson and Christian Nementh both scored four points and Thomas Steele tallied two.
Barton said he was impressed with Jackson’s performance, noting the freshman starter can create his own offense while staying strong in defense. He said Jackson had a great day.
Barton said they have had trouble shooting recently and will be working to improve it. His hope was to test some strategies in yesterday’s game in South Tahoe and Friday’s home game against Dayton.
“We’re going to use the South Tahoe game to work on getting our offense engaged so that we can get ready to play Dayton and stay on track for the playoffs,” Barton said.
Friday’s game is also Greenwave winterfest. Barton encouraged the community to come out to watch and said it would be nice to pack the Elmo Dericco gym.
