Fallon's Connor Richardson, ball carrier, attempts a shot from under the net against Lowry's post players.
Even though the season is just a couple weeks old, the Lowry High School boys basketball team continues to generate excitement for its fans.
In the home-opener against Reno, the Buckaroos rallied late to knock off the Division I school by four points. Lowry was back home Tuesday and the contest went down to the final seconds once again. Churchill County’s Clay Davison missed two 3-point field goals in the final seconds, and Lowry prevailed 48-46 in the Division I-A North opener for both squads.
“We like to make it exciting,” said LHS coach Chad Peters. “It’s all about survive, survive, survive for us. We are going to be that kind of team. We did what we needed to do to get the win.”
In front of a full house in the Lowry gym, the Buckaroos came out on fire, scoring the first seven points of the game. Churchill County did not score its first point until the 4:43 mark of the first quarter. Lowry picked up five points from Nathan Lutzow and four each from Jared Taylor and Jacob Hernandez in the opening period of play to lead 17-9.
“I thought we came out and played intense in the first quarter and played well,” Peters said. “We did a good job of finding Lutzow and there were other times we did recognize him at all. We have to fix that. We didn’t do a very good job of taking care of the ball in the second quarter. We had way too many turnovers on the night, and we shouldn’t against a team like that.”
Hernandez added four more points in the second quarter, and after a layup by Lutzow, Lowry looked to be in control with a 27-15 advantage. The 12-point margin was the largest by any team on the night.
After struggling on offense for much of the first half, a steal and layup by Fallon’s Connor Richardson kick-started an 8-0 run to end the first half.
After two free throws by the Greenwave and another basket by Richardson, a steal and layup by Dylan Ridenour cut the lead to 27-23 at halftime.
“The second quarter was my fault,” Peters said. “I kept us in the 22 press and we were not running it right. I got stubborn and instead of getting out of it, I wanted to make it work. I almost let my stubbornness hurt us. I did a poor job tonight.”
Lowry maintained the advantage in the third quarter and led by six points at 36-30 after a 3-point field goal by Jed Teichert. Churchill County scored six of the final eight points of the quarter, as the Buckaroos Jared Taylor went to the bench with four fouls.
The Greenwave took their first lead of the night early in the fourth quarter at 42-40 off consecutive 3-point field goals by Cade Vercelotti. Lowry came back to tie the game twice at 42 and 44 after free throws by Lutzow and a basket by Taylor.
Vercelotti gave Churchill County its last lead at 46-44, but the Greenwave went scoreless for the final 2:25 of the game. With under two minutes to play, a short jump shot by Taylor tied the contest at 46-46. After turnovers by both teams, Lowry used two free throws by Lutzow to go in front 48-46 with 31 seconds to play. The Buckaroos ended the night 13-for16 from the foul line and Lutzow was 9-for-9.
“I will take that every time,” said the Lowry coach. “That wins games for you.”
Churchill County had the chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, before the missed 3-pointers by Davison.
Lowry had three players in double figures led by Lutzow with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Hernandez and Taylor each had 10 points.
“Jacob did his job tonight — period,” Peters said. “He did not do more than he suppose to and did do too much. He took two quality charges and he worked his but off. I am very proud of him.”
Richardson had 14 points for Fallon and Ridenour and Vercelotti had 13 and 10 points, respectively.