Broncos win opening game of conference tournament

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos basketball team opened Northeast 2B Conference Tournament play in winning style on Feb. 5, defeating the Kettle Falls Bulldogs 54-49 to move into the tournament's winner's bracket.

The game-played at West Valley High School in Spokane-was close throughout, with the Broncos taking a narrow 22-20 lead into halftime. LRS opened up a nine-point lead through three quarters of play and threatened to pull away from Kettle Falls, but the Bulldogs kept the game close in the fourth quarter, with the Broncos ultimately winning by five points.

Senior Bryce Kelly led the Broncos in scoring, finishing with 18 points-13 of which came in the second half of the game. Sophomore Drew Kelly recorded a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, while junior Spencer Gering also finished the game in double figures with 11 points. No other LRS player scored more than four points.

Broncos head coach Dustan Arlt said prior to the game that Kettle Falls would be a good matchup physically for his squad. He added that his team would have a really good chance to win if they played to their capability.

With the win, the Broncos now advance to play the Colfax Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 at West Valley High School. LRS is 0-2 against Colfax-the South's No. 1 seed-on the season.

The Broncos lost by just six points, 42-36, in the first game between the two on Dec. 14 in Colfax. LRS actually outscored the Bulldogs in three of the four quarters, but dug themselves a hole at halftime after being outscored 17-2 in the second quarter.

Colfax was much more dominant in the second meeting between the teams in Ritzville on Jan. 19, beating the Broncos 56-37. Junior Cole Cameron was the only player to finish in double figures in scoring for LRS that game, finishing with 10 points.

A win against Colfax would put the Broncos into the tournament's semifinals, which would take place Feb. 12 at 5 p.m. at West Valley High School. A loss would drop LRS into the loser's bracket, where they would play the Reardan Indians in a win-or-go-home game on Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at West Valley High School.

The Broncos earned the South's No. 5 seed in the tournament by beating Reardan on the road last weekend on Feb. 1, 49-46.

LRS trailed 16-8 after one quarter of play against the Indians, but shook off the rust and outscored the Indians 20-5 in the second quarter to take a 28-21 lead into the half. The game was close throughout the second half, with Reardan actually tying the game late in the fourth quarter before the Broncos pulled away thanks to solid free throw shooting and defense.

"It was rough at the start," said Arlt, who highlighted that seven of the team's 16 turnovers in the game came in the first quarter. "There was not good ball movement, and not good movement without the ball. It just wasn't pretty, and I almost felt like I didn't quite recognize us."

Junior Spencer Gering led the Broncos in scoring with 10 points, while four other players scored at least five points for LRS. Sophomore Drew Kelly finished with nine points, four rebounds, three steals and three blocks. The Broncos shot an efficient 7-15 from beyond the arc as a team, but were just 8-19 on two-pointers. Five of those made three-pointers for LRS came in that 20-point second quarter.

"Really, the first half kind of sums up our team and season in a lot of ways," said Arlt. "Kind of rough the first quarter, and then we're like a completely different team in the second quarter and outscored them 20-5 and hit all sorts of shots."

With the win, the Broncos finished regular season league play with a 3-7 record, and an overall regular season record of 7-13.