Broncos suffered league loss in battle with Dragons

St. George’s got the best of the LRS Broncos last Friday in a classic league battle on the hardwood. The Broncos suffered a painful 64-41 loss on their home court after the Dragons disrupted their game plan.

“The better team right now in the season won,” head coach Dustan Arlt said. “I can see why they are getting all the hype. We played pretty well for two quarters. In the other two we were outplayed.”

The Dragons silenced the gymnasium crowd Friday in the opening minutes of the game, rolling to an 8-0 lead. The Dragons’ defense frustrated the Broncos at center court and in the paint, preventing them from scoring on several trips.

LRS turned it around in the second half of the quarter and pulled within one, trailing 10-9 when the quarter expired. In the second quarter the Dragons left the Broncos behind, posting a 22-10 effort for a 32-19 lead at intermission. The third quarter was more to the Broncos liking when they produced an 18-14 effort in their favor. That was quickly extinguished when the Dragons closed out the game with an 18-4 effort in the fourth quarter.

“In the third quarter we made it a ball game and in the fourth we made one field goal,” Arlt said. “They played great defense on Dylan (Hartz). We didn’t shoot the ball well enough.”

The Broncos converted just 30 percent of their field goals and made good on only 50 percent of their free throws, going 11 for 22.

“I have a little bit better idea what we’re up against and what to expect next time,” Arlt said. “They played pretty tough man defense and they were pretty physical. We weren’t quite expecting their full court game.”

For the night, Hartz led the team scoring with 15 points. He also had four steals and five assists. Connor O’Neill provided seven points and three steals. Tyler Frederick scored six points and grabbed five rebounds.

Kyle Canaday scored five in the game. Bridger Smith had three and Colby Starring had three points. Cory Whitmore scored two, had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

Saturday was a complete turnaround for the team. In a nonleague meeting at Royal City they rolled to a 67-46 win and shot the lights out.

“We shot the ball the best we have all year, at Royal City,” Arlt said. “Just being in a pressure game didn’t seem to phase them.”

The Broncos sank 13 of 37 three-point attempts, including seven of them in the first quarter as they rolled to a 23-14 lead after the first period. Against St. George’s, the team made just four of 16 attempts from three-point land.

Hartz and Starring finished with four threes apiece. Canaday contributed three of them and O’Neill kicked in two.

“It was a good recovery game,” Arlt said.

Hartz led the scoring with 15. Starring and Canaday provided 12 points each. O’Neill and Frederick each scored 10 points. Whitmore finished with four points and Smith and Jacob Anderson each scored two.

Whitmore also had a huge night with eight blocked shots

Starring’s scoring effort was complimented by his rebounding as he grabbed 12 in the game.

“He was really getting after it,” Arlt said.

O’Neill finished the night with six rebounds and four assists. Hartz tallied 10 assists.

“It just worked out pretty good having a nonleague game after St. George’s,” Arlt said. “The way we shot the ball, hopefully it’s going to carry over.”

This weekend, the Broncos host two important league outings to start the second half of the season. They host Reardan on Friday and the powerhouse Northwest Christian Crusaders arrive Saturday.

“We know that’s going to be a battle,” Arlt said of NWC.