Weather wreaks havoc for Broncos in postseason

It's been a tumultuous week for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos basketball team, as the winter weather that has pounded the state has wreaked havoc on the schedule for the Northeast 2B Conference Tournament.

The Broncos were able to play their first two games of the tournament without any problems, as they beat the Kettle Falls Bulldogs in their opening game of the tournament and lost to the Colfax Bulldogs-the South Division regular season champions-in their second round game Feb. 7, dropping them to the consolation bracket.

The team's next game in the tournament was scheduled for Feb. 9 against the Reardan Indians, but what has followed since is postponement after postponement after postponement. Yes, the Broncos' game against the Indians has been postponed three times over the past week due to the heavy snowfall the region has steadily received.

As of The Journal's print deadline, the game was slated to take place Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. at the Davenport High School. The Journal will have coverage of that and any other Bronco games in next week's issue.

But let's rewind to how the Broncos got where they're now at. After beating Kettle Falls 54-49 in the first round of the tournament, LRS dropped its second game to Colfax, 68-48.

The Bulldogs offense was hitting on all cylinders from the get-go, outscoring the Broncos 25-13 in the opening quarter thanks to a flurry of three-pointers. Colfax played stifling defense in the second quarter, limiting LRS to just 6 points and taking a 39-19 lead into halftime. The teams ran neck-and-neck in the second half, with each team scoring 18 points in the third quarter and 11 points in the fourth quarter.

"They're a good team and we needed them to be a little off, but they shot pretty well, especially in the first half" said Broncos head coach Dustan Arlt. "The first couple of minutes I thought we did fine and came out looking like we were ready, and then after that they just went right around us. We just had trouble staying in front of anyone, [and that's why] we gave up 25 points in that first quarter."

Junior Austin Thompson was responsible for nearly half of the Broncos' offense in the game, finishing with 23 points while shooting a perfect 5-5 from beyond the arc and 4-4 on two-pointers. Sophomore Drew Kelly scored all eight of his points in the second half, while sophomore Spencer Gering hit a pair of three-pointers to finish with six points.

"Austin probably had his best game of the year," said Arlt. "He played really well. He struggled a little bit with his shot against Kettle Falls and turned it around and had his best game of the year. Besides Austin, we had trouble finding anyone else [who could score] consistently."

Looking ahead to Wednesday's game against Reardan, Arlt said his team might benefit from the fact that the Indians haven't played a game in over a week, when they lost to the Chewelah Cougars 56-55 in their opening game of the tournament.

"Both teams could be a little rusty, or we might be really fresh and play really well," said Arlt. "It's not really a mystery of who we're playing, so that's good. We know what we're facing, and we've just got to get the game in now."

The Broncos swept the season series against the Indians in the regular season, winning 57-35 at home in early January and 49-46 in Reardan earlier this month.

A win against the Indians would put the Broncos into the next round of the consolation bracket, where they would face either the Northwest Christian Crusaders or the Wilbur-Creston Wildcats in a game that would likely be played Feb. 14 at West Valley High School, weather permitting.

LRS beat Wilbur-Creston 63-44 on the road Dec. 8, and lost to Northwest Christian 60-52 at home Jan. 22. The Broncos were tied with the Crusaders after three quarters of play, but were outscored 23-15 in the fourth quarter. Arlt said it is a "winnable" game for his team no matter who they would play.