By Bree Dunckhorst Posted December 20, 2019
Last year’s varsity boys’ basketball team had a record of 17-9. Last year’s team made it to the playoffs and had a tough 72-68 overtime loss to Fallon.
The Bucks opened their season at a tournament in Elko and came out with one win. The team won against Hug 66-54. They lost against Reno 69-37 and Hunter (UT) 70-53 the day before.
“The team still has a long way to go to improve and become the team we know we can be,” said Kobe Stoker. “But it’s the first three games of the season. We are figuring each other out and trying to jell as a team. We just need to keep improving every practice and every game.”
Head coach Chad Peters is looking forward to where the team can progress.
“See where we end up in February, and the best part about this team this year is we work really, really hard,” said Peters. “If we can just get a little bit smarter and make better decisions on the floor,r I think the skies the limit for us.”
This year’s team lost four seniors, but Peters sees a lot of potential in his new players and returning players on his team.
“I’m really excited to see how the younger kids develop over the next couple of months. Kobe Stoker is a four-year starter on the varsity, and JJ Backus is our returning point guard,” said Peters. “We have a bunch of seniors with a lot of playing time from last year, so we should be fairly experienced. I’m really excited about our junior class. We have a lot of big, strong athletes in that class.”
The team has experience with seven returners and is loaded with guards.
“But we only have two posts and the rest are shooting guards and point guards, which means our offense and defense will change a little,” said Stoker. “But other than that, we have all played with each other before, and we are working our butts off to be the team to beat this year.”
Peters has been coaching basketball for 26 years and loves to see Lowry’s teams evolve and flourish.
Peters said, “It’s my 18th at Lowry High School every year. I love coming back and just seeing how the kids can develop and become better.”
One of the new players is Robert Rangel, who moved back to Winnemucca from Odessa, Texas, where sports are more of a job than a pastime.
“We’re focused on playing better defense. Our big thing this year is communication with each other,” said Rangel. “We have a lot of guards, which can be good because it creates flexibility.”
Lowry’s 2019-2020 Varsity boys’ basketball team is coached by Chad Peters and Dave Schwartz. The team’s roster is JJ Backus, Max Mavity, Derek Espinoza, Alex Ruiz, Michael Casalez, Chance Huitt, Anthony Hemp, Preston Snow, Klay Garner, Robert Rangel, Mason Ellingford, Anthony Gildone, and Kobe Stoker.
