Columbia-Burbank upsets Broncos in nonleague game

After a full week without game competition, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos hosted Columbia-Burbank on Dec. 27 in a nonleague match up.

The Broncos had an opportunity to earn a win, Head Coach Dustan Arlt said, but a poor shooting night and lackluster offense left the team a step short of earning a victory. The Broncos lost the nonleague game, 36-67.

The game started off well, Arlt mentioned, with the Broncos quickly moving into the lead and maintaining a slight advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Arlt said the Coyotes proved they were a solid team with more depth on their bench during the second quarter, when they outscored the Broncos 16-1.

Arlt said the Coyotes went on a scoring run that the Broncos could not stop.

The day prior to the game at practice, Arlt said the Broncos looked lethargic and were struggling to play at game speed; an issue that presented itself the following night as well.

The Coyotes implemented a full court press for the entirety of the game, and Arlt said strong defensive pressure has been a constant weakness for the team this season.

During the full court press, the Coyotes forced turnovers and converted the change of possession to quick break away points.

Arlt said as the game went on, the Broncos continued to lose momentum and energy.

The Broncos did not have athletes step up to lead the team during the match up, Arlt continued, and the team suffered from not having any individual with double digit scoring.

The Broncos slowly watched the game move in favor of Columbia-Burbank as the Coyotes went on a 35-9 run in the course of 10 minutes. The Coyotes also benefited from a strong performance by Jermaine Broetje.

In the first quarter, the Broncos held Broetje to four points, but in the next three quarters, he went on a scoring drive the Broncos could not stop. Broetje ended the night by sinking eight 3-pointers and earned 34 points in the game.

The Broncos have been a fairly consistent perimeter shooting team in league games this season, but Arlt said the team could not get shots to fall during the nonleague contest.

The Broncos ended the night shooting 1 of 16 from the three-point line, and going 7 for 19 on free throws.

Arlt said Columbia-Burbank played in a zone defense, which provided the Broncos with open looks at the hoop, but the team could not convert.

The Broncos continued to have a poor shooting night, while the Coyotes pulled ahead quickly and prevented the LRS team from narrowing the scoring gap.

The game proved to result in a combination of multiple faults, Arlt said, and the Broncos struggled to take care of the ball or put up consistent shots.

The Broncos ended the game with 26 turnovers, a season high for the team.

Arlt said the Broncos did hold the Coyotes to eight offensive rebounds and forced 21 turnovers.

Overall, Arlt stated the LRS team needed to take better care of the ball and create more movement in the offensive rotation to be competitive.

Throughout the game, Arlt said the Broncos rotated their defensive strategy to find the best option for the team to limit the Coyotes’ scoring.

Regardless of the adjustments, Columbia-Burbank continued to dominant the scoring drive by making changes of their own.

Bryce Kelly ended the night as the Broncos’ leading scorer with seven points, followed by Patrick Bartz and Camden Smith with six points each.

Shontz Yaeger scored five points for the Broncos, and Easton Nelson and Michael Shields each scored four.

Austin Thompson and David Ziebell rounded out the scoring with two points each.

The Broncos moved on to face Dayton in another nonleague game before returning to league competition. Arlt said after the game against Dayton, the Broncos are facing 11 consecutive league games for an opportunity to move on to playoffs.

Arlt said the Broncos have to work on beating the press and learning new defensive options.

He added they are putting an emphasis on taking care of the ball, and that begins in practice for improvement during upcoming games.

The Broncos face Davenport on the road on Jan. 6 before hosting Northwest Christian on Jan. 7.

Arlt said the Davenport game is winnable for the Broncos, and he is looking for the team to play aggressive and work together.

Northwest Christian is one of the top team’s in the league, Arlt said, and the Broncos will need to remain focused and calm if they want to be competitive on Saturday night.