Final regular season games are crucial to the Broncos league standings

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos are on the final stretch of the regular season, with only three games remaining until postseason competition.

After a win against Tekoa-Rosalia and a loss to Asotin, the Broncos need to emerge victorious in the upcoming games to secure third place in league standings.

The Broncos went on the road on Jan. 26 to face TR and returned home with a 72-44 victory. Head Coach Dustan Arlt said the Timberwolves are a tall and athletic team, which created challenges for the Broncos throughout the match up.

LRS started well offensively, Arlt explained, quickly racking up 17 points in the first quarter before tacking on another 24 points before halftime. The Timberwolves began to close in on the Broncos lead in the second quarter when they hit consecutive 3-pointers, but LRS continued to play with composure and maintain the advantage.

The Broncos quickly found themselves at a disadvantage when their post players got into foul trouble. Arlt explained the lack of height and strength down low for the Broncos resulted in TR bringing down consistent offensive rebounds.

The team benefited from having a strong shooting night from the field, Arlt added. Bryce Kelly sank five 3-pointers for the Broncos in the first half.

Arlt said the lack of size in the second quarter led to the Broncos moving into a 2-3 zone. The defense struggled with the zone originally, moving out of position to often Arlt explained, but quickly settled into the rotation and caused problems for the Timberwolves.

The Broncos continued their defensive strategy moving into the third quarter, and were successful as they held TR to only a single field goal in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves made a few runs at the Broncos, but Arlt said they were able to keep pulling away, never bringing the game closer than 19 points.

Arlt said the Broncos’ strength was their shooting for the night. The Broncos were able to play composed basketball, with the team controlling the tempo of the game and being successful in pushing the ball up the court for breakaway points.

As a team, the Broncos improved on reducing turnovers, and ended the night with nine. Arlt said the team’s primary struggle continues to be at the free throw line, going 7-16 during the game.

Bryce Kelly stepped up to lead the team in scoring with 26 points, and also had six rebounds. Camden Smith scored 12 points, and had seven rebounds for the team.

Spencer Gering and Austin Thompson each had nine points for the Broncos.

Drew Kelly had six points, followed by Easton Nelson and Shontz Yaeger with four points. Jack Anderson rounded out the scoring for the Broncos with two points.

On Saturday, the Broncos hosted the Asotin Panthers and were handed a 59-54 loss. Arlt said the Asotin game was the most frustrating result of the season, especially because of how the game played out in the final minutes.

Arlt explained Asotin is a solid team, and they have had a lot of close and competitive games this season. The Broncos played well during the game, Arlt said but there was too much working against them to earn the win.

Through the majority of the game, Arlt said the Broncos outplayed Asotin, but the two teams remained locked in a back-and-forth scoring exchange. The Broncos were plagued by fouls and poor free throw shooting, which resulted in the difference of the game.

Nelson accumulated three fouls before halftime, and the Broncos felt the loss of their primary post player.

The Broncos trailed by one at the end of the first, but a strong shooting run by Bryce Kelly helped move the Broncos into the lead in the second. But in the final four minutes of the first half, LRS had three athletes with three fouls, which eliminated their depth on the court.

The Broncos went into halftime with a one-point advantage, but struggled with controlling the tempo of the game and taking care of the ball in the third quarter.

Arlt said the team was rattled by Asotin’s pressure defense, resulting in 11 turnovers in the third quarter. The Broncos were fortunate the majority of the turnovers ended with the ball out of bounds, which detracted from Asotin’s chance to rack up breakaway points.

After Asotin started hitting shots, Arlt said the Broncos moved into a 2-3 zone to create issues for the Panthers’ offense. The change in defensive strategy led to multiple steals, and allowed the Broncos to stay within one-point of Asotin at the end of the third.

The Broncos built up a five-point lead early in the fourth, but struggled to bring down the defensive rebounds. Asotin is efficient from the foul line, Arlt said, and fourth quarter fouls were the difference of the game.

Midway through the fourth, the Broncos had eight team fouls to Asotin’s one, and the difference prevented the Broncos from playing aggressively out of fear of fouling out.

While the team kept competing to the end, Arlt said there were too many factors working against them to allow the Broncos a victory.

Bryce Kelly led the team in scoring again with 16 points and seven rebounds, followed by Thompson with 12 points, six rebounds and four steals.

Gering racked up 11 points, while Nelson had seven.

The Broncos moved on to face Reardan on Jan. 30, and Arlt said the team needed the win to help secure their position as the third place team in the league. If Asotin wins all of their final games of the season and the Broncos lose one, Arlt said LRS will move into fourth place.