Broncos’ season winds down with non-league wins

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos started last week’s games on Tuesday, Jan. 20, against the Connell Eagles.

The Broncos jumped to an early lead, scoring 23 points in the first quarter to the Eagles’ 17. The Broncos’ scoring lagged in the second quarter and at the half they trailed by three points.

The Broncos rallied and outscored their opponents in the second half to secure a 69-62 win over the Eagles.

Dustan Arlt called the game a balanced effort.

“Everyone individually and the team just played better,” Arlt explained. “We were sharper.”

The Broncos had multiple threats for the Eagles to contend with, as four players scored in double-digit figures.

Cort Ruzicka capped Broncos’ scoring efforts with 17 points. Jacob Saetre had 11 points while Dylan Becker and Trevor Jantz each had 10 points.

“We had a lot of kids, I thought, play to their potential and above,” Arlt said.

Kyle Canaday and Jantz hit back-to-back three-point shots in the fourth quarter to secure the Broncos’ lead over the Eagles.

The Broncos shooting had greatly improved over previous games, with the team going 13 for 19 on free throw attempts.

On Friday the Broncos faced the number one team in the league, the Liberty Lancers.

“We knew that was going to be tough,” Arlt said.

The Broncos took the lead 15-6 early in the first quarter but the Lancers tied the game at 18 before the conclusion of the quarter.

“At the start Cort played really well,” Arlt explained. “Him and Wyatt kind of got us off to a good offensive start.”

The Broncos scoring sagged in the second and third quarters, with a combined total scoring of nine points for those two quarters.

“We didn’t play poorly, we weren’t up there turning the ball over and our defense was fine,” Arlt said. “They amped up the intensity on some of our kids and we just got to learn to battle through that.”

Though the Broncos outscored the Lancers in the fourth quarter, they could not offset the deficit from the second and third quarters.

The Broncos lost to the Lancers 65-42.

On Saturday the Broncos took on the Freeman Scotties in another weekend away game.

“I didn’t quite know what to expect and how it’d go,” Arlt said.

After the first quarter the Broncos led by one point, but in the second half they extended their lead over the Scotties to 10.

“Second half, we played some of our best basketball we have all year,” Arlt explained.

The Broncos scored 20 points to a Scotties’ 12 in the third quarter and in the fourth outscored their opponent 13 to 6 for a final score of 62-37 Broncos.

“I never would have guessed we’d be up 27 points on Freeman with four minutes left in the game,” Arlt said.

Arlt explained the Scotties did not play as well once the Broncos started to build a lead against them. He also said the Broncos’ shooting was some of the best of the season.

Saetre scored a season high 21 points, hitting five of six three-point attempts during the evening. Ruzicka also contributed 14 points during the evening’s contest.

Off the bench, Dallas Killian added another 11 points for the Broncos and sank all three of his three-point attempts during the game.

This week the Broncos have their final three league games with Tekoa-Rosalia on Tuesday, Colfax on Friday and St. George’s on Saturday.

“We need to get this league win,” Arlt said of the Tekoa-Rosalia game on Tuesday.

If the Broncos win two of their games this week, they will clinch the third place position in the district tournament.

“We’re looking to get third right now and play well this week,” Arlt said. “And have a rematch with Wilbur next week would be the ideal scenario.”

Friday’s game is also senior night game for the Broncos, starting at 7 p.m.