Broncos basketball improves to 3-1 on season

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos basketball team picked up two more wins in non-conference play last week, improving its record to 3-1.

The Broncos narrowly beat the Oakesdale Nighthawks at home on Dec. 4, winning 46-44 in a game that was close all night long. LRS took an 18-17 lead into halftime and a 35-30 lead into the third quarter, and were able to prevent a Nighthawks comeback thanks to a game-winning layup from sophomore Drew Kelly with two seconds remaining. Drew then iced the game with a steal on the following inbounds pass from the Nighthawks.

Broncos head coach Dustan Arlt said the team executed that final offensive play of the game almost to perfection, and credited Drew for making a tough shot in a big moment. Arlt also said that he’s liked the team’s defense early in the season, but wants to see his team pull away from teams rather than letting them stick around and keep the game close.

“We just could never quite put them away,” said Arlt. “We’d get a four or five point lead, and it seemed like they would always hit a shot, or we’d put them on the free throw line or give up an offensive rebound.

Drew led the Broncos in scoring for the third straight game to start the season, scoring 12 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. He shot 5-8 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc, and stuffed the statsheet with five rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Junior Austin Thompson joined Drew as the other LRS player in double figures with 11 points, while senior Bryce Kelly and junior Spencer Gering each scored nine points. All of Gering’s points came in the third quarter, which Arlt said was a big lift for the team.

Arlt was pleased with the team’s improved efficiency from three-point range, as the Broncos made six three-pointers in the win. He also noted that the 12 turnovers committed by the team was the fewest they’d committed so far in the season.

The Broncos got their third consecutive win four nights later on Dec. 8, where an offensive explosion in the fourth quarter helped them breeze past the Wilbur-Creston Wildcats 63-43 in Wilbur.

LRS led by a healthy 10 points going into the half, but saw their lead cut to 4 points going into the final quarter. But a 27-point final quarter helped the Broncos pull away from the Wildcats, improving their record on the season to 3-1. All of the Wildcats’ points in the fourth quarter came from the free throw line, not from the field.

“I thought the kids stayed within their strengths a lot better,” Arlt said about the team’s performance in the fourth quarter. “They didn’t try and do too much, they were more active without the ball. It definitely was our best quarter [of the season], to score 27 points and hold them without a field goal.”

Junior Cole Cameron led the Broncos in scoring in the game, finishing with 15 points on an efficient 7-9 shooting from the field. Cameron’s 11 rebounds—four of which came on the offensive glass—gave him a double-double, and he sprinkled in three assists as well.

“Cole is a prime example of how when you work hard in practice, that carries over into how you play,” said Arlt. “He works hard every day, practice is like a game to him. And then that carries over into games.”

Arlt added that a big scoring night isn’t something that he expects out of Cameron each game, and that a lot of it depends on matchups on a game-by-game basis. But Arlt said it’s good to know that he is capable of being a scoring threat.

Drew and Thompson were the other players in double figures in scoring for LRS, finishing with 14 and 10 points respectively. Bryce was the only other player who scored more than five points, finishing with nine.

As a whole, the team shot 27-56 from the field, and 24-40 on two-point attempts. The Broncos grabbed 36 rebounds in the win, 14 of which came on the offensive end to give the Broncos second and even third chance opportunities on possessions to score.

The Broncos continue their season with a pair of league games this week. LRS faced off at home against the Liberty Lancers on Dec. 11. The Lancers are 2-2 on the season and have won their last two games against Chewelah (who is a member of the Northeast 2B North Division) and Tri-Cities Prep.

LRS then travels to Colfax on Dec. 14 for another league tilt against the Bulldogs. That game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs started the season on a three-game win streak, before falling 69-50 to a tough St. George’s Dragons team at home on Dec. 8.

These are the only league games that the Broncos will play until 2019, when they play the Reardan Indians at home on Jan. 4.