Broncos record two wins after break

After more than a week off from games during the winter break, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos picked back up into league play, facing the Dayton Bulldogs and the Kettle Falls Bulldogs over the weekend.

For their first game back, the Broncos traveled to Dayton to face a team that has been struggling this season.

The Broncos defeated Dayton 53-29.

Head coach Dustan Arlt said he did not expect the game to be the best for the Broncos, since it was the first game after the break.

“It was going pretty good until the end of the second quarter,” Arlt explained.

In the second quarter, the Broncos were up 28-8 over the Bulldogs before Dayton managed to hit multiple three-point shots to bring the score to 29-14 at the half.

In the second half Arlt said the Broncos allowed the Bulldogs to score too much. He attributed this to the Broncos difficulty stopping the Bulldogs while in man-to-man defense.

“When we did go to man, it really wasn’t very good against Dayton,” Arlt explained. “That concerns me a little because we’re going to play teams with more talent, more individual talent, than them.”

Dayton player Zach Waggoner put up 19 of his team’s 29 points and the Broncos had a difficult time containing him while on defense.

Arlt said the Broncos should have won by around 40 points. Another problem he said the LRS had was not moving the ball well while on offense.

For the Broncos, Cort Ruzicka led the scoring efforts with 13 points and five rebounds. Dylan Becker also put up 10 points with Jacob Saetre recording nine, Wyatt Roettger seven and Kyle Canaday had six points.

The Broncos returned home to host the Kettle Falls Bulldogs on Saturday.

Arlt said he was hopeful the team would be fired up after not performing their best in Dayton.

According to Arlt, the Broncos came into the game with energy and played much better than the previous night. However, the team was unable to score despite the opportunities given by their opponent.

“We just couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” Arlt said. “We did a lot to only score 10 points in the first quarter.”

After the first quarter the Broncos led their opponent 10-4 and at the end of the first half, they would extend their lead to 23-13.

In the third quarter both the Broncos and Kettle Falls put up 11 points. In the fourth, the Bulldogs outscored LRS 16-15. The Broncos recorded the win with a final score of 49-40.

“It wasn’t a very satisfying win,” Arlt explained. “It could have been worse, we could have really tripped up and lost.”

Ruzicka and Trevor Jantz had the highest shooting percentages for the Broncos with Ruzicka making nine out of 18 shots and Jantz sinking four of six. Dallas Killian also recorded two for five. The rest of the team was six for 40 in shooting attempts.

Offensive rebounds helped keep the Broncos ahead of the Bulldogs. They out rebounded their opponent 54-23 on Saturday night.

Arlt said shooting was much improved at Monday’s practice after the game.

The Broncos needed to step up their game both offensively and defensively for their Tuesday night game against the Northwest Christian Crusaders.

“It’s a winnable game, but no question it’s going to be a tough game,” Arlt explained.

Arlt said the Crusaders are offensively skilled but give up a lot of points on defense.

The Broncos will have to play tight man defense in order to shut down the two main scorers for the Crusaders.

The Crusaders lost to the Colfax Bulldogs by three points on Saturday, Jan. 3.

He said if the Broncos can knock down the open shots they should come home with a big win.

The Broncos then take on the Davenport Gorillas on Friday before hosting Springdale on Saturday.

According to Arlt, both teams are better than Kettle Falls and Dayton, but on paper the Broncos should be able to come out on top.

He was hopeful that a big win against Northwest Christian would bring back the confidence of the team and help them secure crucial league wins this week.

Tip-off on Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.