Broncos take down three opponents in league competition

After a slow start last week, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos picked up their game and rattled of an impressive streak of wins.

They took down Northwest Christian after intense competition on Tuesday, Jan. 6.

“That was, I think, the start of us playing a lot better last week,” head coach Dustan Arlt said.

At the half the Crusaders led the game 35-27, but in the third quarter a switch in the Broncos defense shut down the Crusaders’ scoring attempts.

The Broncos held their opponent to five points in the quarter while tallying up 14 points.

The Broncos were able to battle ahead of the Crusaders in the fourth quarter.

With 13 seconds left on the clock Jacob Saetre hit two free throws, which put the Broncos up three points over their opponent.

The Crusaders missed a shot attempt and then fouled Matt Leffel with four seconds left in the game.

Leffel drained his two free throws, bringing the Broncos to their game winning score of 57-52.

Saetre recorded 15 points, as well as seven assists during the game. Cort Ruzicka also put up 14 points and reeled in seven rebounds for the Broncos.

“A lot of guys contributed four to six points so that helped us out,” Arlt said.

The Broncos then traveled to Davenport where they, according to Arlt, played some of their best defense of the season.

“The big thing against them was not having a let up after our big win against Northwest,” he explained.

The Broncos held the Gorillas to 10 points in the first half, all while scoring 24.

“I wish we could have scored a little bit better but we’re both kind of familiar with what each other do,” Arlt explained.

The Gorillas rallied in the second half, outscoring the Broncos by three points in the third quarter, but lost all the ground they had gained during the fourth quarter.

The Broncos finished the game 49-35 over the Gorillas.

Arlt said the Broncos were unable to pull away further from their opponent because their outside shooting was not as strong and neither were their free throw attempts.

The Broncos failed to convert on three one-and-one free throws at the start of the fourth quarter.

Ruzicka led the Broncos offense again, this time with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

“That’s a pretty good performance and that shows me he’s working hard to get that many rebounds,” Arlt said. “He was getting after it.”

Wyatt Roettger also came out strong for the Broncos with 11 points and nine rebounds.

“He had a really nice game, he was more aggressive, it was probably one of his better defensive games too,” Arlt explained.

Off the bench Trevor Jantz hit two three-point shots when the Broncos were struggling to score and Matt Leffel also contributed solid minutes on the court.

On Saturday night the Broncos hosted the Springdale Chargers and won decisively, 61-30.

“We finally did to a T what I was hoping against a team like Springdale,” Arlt said.

Arlt was able to rotate the substitute players into the game early, which gave the starters a chance to rest up for future games.

The Broncos dominated scoring in the second and third quarters, holding the Chargers to 11 points while tallying up 36 points. Dylan Becker and Saetre both lead the Broncos scoring with 11 points.

Roettger added nine points and led the Broncos in rebounding, pulling in eight during the game.

This week the Broncos face two tough opponents, Wilbur-Creston on Tuesday and Reardan on Saturday.

Wilbur-Creston in 5-3 in their half of the league while the Broncos currently sit at 6-2.

“They have good size, a lot of seniors and they’re a pretty good basketball team,” Arlt said.

The Broncos’ advantage over the Wildcats will be their quickness, Arlt said, and he hoped the Wildcats would have a difficult time handling the Broncos’ team speed.

The Broncos then travel to Reardan to face the Indians before returning to play in their half of the league next week.

“If we can take care of business we’ll be in pretty good shape,” Arlt explained.

The Broncos will face Connell in a non-league game before hosting Liberty.