Broncos basketball drops two games to start 2018-19 league season

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos basketball team dropped its first two league games of the season at home against the Liberty Lancers and on the road against the Colfax Bulldogs last week.

The Broncos now sit at 0-2 in league play and 3-3 overall in the still young season, but won’t have the opportunity to get themselves in the ‘win’ column in league play until early January.

LRS played host to the Liberty Lancers on Dec. 11, falling 64-43 in a game that was more competitive than the score might indicate. The Broncos trailed big going into the half, 32-14, as the team just simply wasn’t able to convert from the field at an efficient rate despite having some solid looks. Sophomore Drew Kelly also got into foul trouble very early on, taking away one of LRS’s biggest scoring threats for much of the half.

Broncos head coach Dustan Arlt said that the Lancers were just bigger and more physical than his squad. The Lancers had one post player who was at least 6 feet 7 inches tall, and Arlt said the team’s best player had improved markedly from the previous season.

“We got our shot blocked a lot, or at least altered,” said Arlt. “And I think that intimidated us a little bit. We got less aggressive as the game went on, so I think it bothered us.”

Arlt was proud of his team’s effort throughout the game, and said the game could have gotten way out of control if the team hadn’t kept battling like they did.

The Broncos were much sharper offensively in the second half, and were outscored by the Lancers just 32-29 in the last two quarters. Senior Bryce Kelly and junior Cole Cameron were LRS’s highest scorers, finishing with nine points apiece. In all, nine Broncos players scored at least two points in the game, but Kelly and Cameron were the only players to score more than five points.

As a team, the Broncos shot just 2-13 from beyond the arc, and 13-43 from the field. LRS turned the ball over 14 times in the game—which is around their season average—despite the full-court press from the Lancers. They also recorded 14 steals, as Liberty turned the ball over 18 times.

The Broncos played a much closer game on Dec. 14, when they traveled to Colfax to take on the Bulldogs, ultimately falling 42-36. LRS had a 15-10 lead after the first quarter, but were held to just two points in the second quarter to go into the break trailing 27-17.

The Broncos shook off the bad second quarter and played much better in the second half, outscoring Colfax 19-15. But the 10 point deficit proved too much to overcome.

Arlt attributed some of their second quarter woes to the fact that Colfax switched from a man-to-man to a zone defense in the second quarter.

“[Zone defenses] have been a little bit of an issue for us this year,” said Arlt. “In the second quarter we held the ball a little too much, we were a little hesitant and lost a little confidence. And we had at least four, five, six good outside looks, but we just couldn’t hit them at all.”

Bryce Kelly led the way for LRS with 15 points, and younger brother Drew was the only other player who scored more than five points, finishing with nine. As a team, the Broncos made just 1 of their 17 three-point attempts, courtesy of junior Austin Thompson, his sole attempt from long range. LRS also committed 20 turnovers in the game, while Colfax only committed nine.

“I’m proud of the kids for competing with a quality team like that at a tough place on the road,” said Arlt. “But it’s also frustrating because I look at our shooting stats, and I felt like we missed a great opportunity to pull a pretty big upset off. To hold them to 42 points, and to hold the returning league MVP to 14 points, I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

The Broncos play two non-league games before they take a two-week break. They took on 1B opponent Almira/Coulee-Hartline at home on Dec. 18, and travel to Davenport to take on the Gorillas on Dec. 21. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

Following the game against Davenport, LRS returns to league play when they take on the Reardan Indians at home on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. The Broncos then host the 1A Connell Eagles for a non-league home game the following day, with tip-off set for 6 p.m.