Broncos falter in Spangle

In the middle of the pack, Liberty is a pesky team and they proved it Tuesday, upending the Broncos 63-51.

Head coach Dustan Arlt knew going into the game that Liberty can give teams fits and that’s exactly what happened. The Broncos found themselves on the negative end of a 19-6 first quarter. The remaining three quarters were not enough for LRS to climb back into the game.

Prior to Tuesday’s loss, the Broncos were riding pretty high, having defeated Reardan, 57-47, on Friday night and then knocking off Northwest Christian for the second time this season, 60-46.

“Any time you can beat them twice, it’s a good thing,” Arlt said. “It has been a long time since a team has swept them in the regular season. The Northwest Christian win was huge. They both were. Now we have got to beat the middle of the pack teams and then Colfax and we will be in good shape to finish in the top three.”

At Liberty, Dylan Hartz scored 28 points. Kyle Canaday added 10, while Ryan Whitmore had five and Connor O’Neill scored four.

Tyler Frederick and Jarradd Morley each scored two.

Frederick led the scoring against Reardan with 18 points and seven rebounds. Hartz finished with 13 points and seven assists. O’Neill delivered 11 points and six steals. Colby Starring scored seven and had three assists. Whitmore had five points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Bridger Smith finished with three points.

It was a big night for Frederick, who sank eight of 11 field goal attempts and was hot-handed with the 15-foot jumper in the second half.

“Reardan left him open and we talked about it at halftime,” Arlt said. “I knew he could make a 15-footer, but I didn’t expect him to make them all and that’s pretty much what he did.”

In the Northwest Christian game, Hartz had solid numbers with 20 points, three steals, seven assists and seven rebounds. He was seven for seven from the free throw line. Cort Ruzicka scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and was four of five from the free throw line.

Whitmore scored 11 points, snagged 10 rebounds and had four blocked shots.

Starring finished with seven points. Frederick scored six points, while O’Neill and Morley each had three.