Broncos march into district tourney, looking for key wins

When the District 7 Boys Basketball Tournament opened Wednesday, the Broncos had to face a demon right away. A little more than a week ago the Broncos were handed a stunning loss by Davenport, 49-45.

Now after finishing third overall in the Bi-County League standings the Broncos find themselves with a first round tournament date with Davenport.

The game was played on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Mt. Spokane. Results of the game were not available when the newspaper went to press.

“Our kids are a lot more motivated,” head coach Dustan Arlt said. “We played one of our worst games against Davenport. We had our highest number of turnovers this season and our posts struggled. We blew a seven point fourth quarter lead.”

The district competition will not be an easy trip to the next tournament.

“There are seven teams on the boys side that are pretty good,” Arlt said. “We have to play to our potential. I think the boys want a little revenge. And we would like to match up against Colfax in the semi finals.”

A win on Wednesday puts the Broncos in a game against the winner of the first round Reardan versus Colfax contest. The semi final game would be played at 6:30 p.m. at Mt. Spokane High School.

If the Broncos were to lose, they would face the loser of the Colfax and Reardan game on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Mead High School.

Friday the Broncos dismantled Colfax, 68-51, after losing by five points to the Bulldogs in the early season meeting.

The Broncos rolled to an 18-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and cranked out a 40-21 first half effort.

“It was a great team effort and we showed a ton of confidence,” Arlt said. “We were much more disciplined. Things we did in practice, they did in the game. We forced seven turnovers in the first quarter. And our posts showed up when they have struggled lately.”

Arlt was pleased with the Broncos’ effort throughout the entire game.

“We played probably the most inspired ball of the season,” he said. “I have been waiting for that against a good team. Our defensive intensity was the best it has been. We scored more points than anyone has against Colfax all season. Teams have only scored 50 points against them four times.”

Connor O’Neill and Dylan Hartz led the team scoring with 14 points each. O’Neill had four steals in the game and Hartz finished with nine assists and five rebounds.

Tyler Frederick had 12 points and six rebounds. Colby Starring had eight points. Cort Ruzicka provided six.

Ryan Whitmore scored four and had nine rebounds. Kyle Canaday also had four points. Bridger Smith, Jarradd Morley and Jacob Anderson each scored two.

Saturday things weren’t quite as pleasant as the Broncos fell to St. George’s in the final regular season game of the year, 59-41.

“We were tired and kind of slow and one of their kids played out of their minds,” Arlt said. “In the fourth quarter I sat our starters and let the subs play the entire quarter.”

O’Neill and Hartz both scored 10 points to lead the team. Anderson, Morley, Whitmore and Ruzicka each scored four points. Starring had three, Frederick scored two and Smith had one point.

“Connor really has hit his stride during the last three games he has been in double figures,” Arlt said.