Broncos on a league roll

The Broncos have latched on to second place and will not let go. With just one regular season game remaining, they are 16-2 overall, and 11-2 in league and looking forward to an extended tournament run.

Tuesday night they dismantled Northwest Christian on senior night, 77-64, complete with a last second 3-pointer by Steven Ulrich.

Saturday Davenport fell victim to the Broncos assault on the hoop, 63-39. And the night before that, the scrappy Liberty Lancers went down in defeat, 59-45.

Liberty was the toughest of the three outings as they came out hard and fast and were physical all over the court. In the final seconds of the first quarter Liberty eked out a bucket to take a 16-14 lead. After that, the Broncos weren’t willing to trail the Lancers.

By the end of the first half LRS went up 35-26 with a 21-10 second quarter effort. LRS kept the edge in the final two quarters to grab an important win and cement their second place league finish.

“It was a big game. We had to win that. It was a good quality win,” head coach Dustan Arlt said. “In the second quarter we played better defense. We knew we had to respond and play better.”

Dylan Hartz made his contribution to the effort, putting up a huge three to give the Broncos a nine point lead.

Hartz led the team scoring with 21 points. He also served up three assists and grabbed nine rebounds.

Connor O’Neill scored 13, dished out five assists and pick-pocketed Liberty for eight steals. Tyler Frederick had 11 points and five rebounds. Cort Ruzicka had three points and five rebounds. Ryan Whitmore finished with five rebounds and two points. Jacob Saetre scored seven points. Bridger Smith and Kyle Canaday each scored one.

The physical contest ended with two players on each team fouling out. This was the first time this season LRS has had players foul out. Ruzicka and Whitmore both had to take the bench late in the fourth due to fouls.

“It was a big game for our posts,” Arlt said. “It was hard to play down there and not get fouls.”

Arlt said a few mistakes kept the Broncos from really pulling away in the second half.

“Even though we were up by 17 at one point in the third, I just felt we could have pulled away. We just missed some shots and by no means did we get any calls to go our way.”

The Davenport game was all LRS. The Broncos rolled to an 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and then cruised into the half, 32-21. In the second half they outscored the Gorillas, 31-18.

“I thought we would match up pretty well,” Arlt said. “They beat Reardan by 15 the night before. We missed easy lay-ins and made dumb turnovers early and then finished the second quarter strong.”

Hartz was on fire with a triple double, scoring 10 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and serving up 10 assists. Frederick led the team in scoring with 17 points. He also had six rebounds.

O’Neill scored 12, had four steals and three assists.

Saetre had four assists and two points. Whitmore scored 12 points and hauled in seven rebounds.

Ruzicka scored four while Canaday added two points. Wyatt Roettger scored one in the game.

Ulrich, a Sprague senior who has been playing on C squad had his moment in the spotlight late in the fourth quarter. With the local fans chanting his name, Arlt subbed him in and he buried a three point shot. The entire gym erupted in cheers and applause. He repeated the feat on Tuesday night against NWC.

“There was 10 seconds left and the place went nuts,” Arlt said.

The Broncos will travel to Colfax Friday to close out the regular season. As the Northeast 2B’s No. 2 seed into the playoff bracket, Arlt said the team will play on Monday at Mount Spokane against the No. 7 seed, likely Davenport. A win pushes the Broncos into a Wednesday, Feb. 5, game likely at 3:30 p.m. at Mount Spokane. If the Broncos win both of their opening playoff games, they will play again on Saturday, Feb. 8.