Broncos take fifth at state

The Journal

SPOKANE-All good things must come to an end.

For the No. 9 Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna/Harrington Broncos, the end to a magical postseason run at the state 2B Boys Tournament concluded with a 70-47 loss to the No. 4-ranked Columbia (Burbank) Coyotes in the 3rd/5th place game at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday, March 4.

Both teams came in fresh off tough semifinal losses the night prior, with Columbia getting trounced by Davenport and the Broncos losing a heartbreaker to Brewster.

"To lose a close semifinal game and turn around that next morning, I've never had a great experience with that," Lind-Ritzville Coach Dustan Arlt said. "I thought we came out pretty well. Burbank's a talented team though. They played one less game, which doesn't work in our favor."

The Broncos jumped out to a 14-9 lead in the first quarter.

But tired legs began to show for the Broncos in the second quarter, as Columbia flipped the script and outscored the Broncos by 12 in the period to take a 31-24 lead into halftime.

The Coyotes kept up the pressure in the second half, only growing their lead throughout the game to finish a season in which they only lost two games - both to top-ranked Davenport.

"Second half, we closed it right at the start, but you could tell (playing) four days in a row wore on us a little bit," Arlt said. "Didn't have a lot of guys putting the ball in the hoop...and they just kept slowly pulling away."

Jayce Kelly led LRS with 20 points, while Chase Galbreath had another double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Columbia had a balanced attack led by Quincy Scott's 20 points and six rebounds. Tristan Frimodt added 14 points and Crew Pariera had 11 points for the Coyotes.

LRS finished a fifth-place season with two straight losses, but also earned two wins in the Arena and one opening round victory after a strong run through Districts.

"It seems like we've been in the playoffs forever, which we have. It's been a month," Arlt said. "The kids stuck together. We played our best basketball in this last month, there's no question about that.

"To get hardware as a nine seed is a great accomplishment."

In the semifinals

The Broncos built a nine-point lead against No. 5 Brewster in the 2B state semifinals Friday and looked like their magical run through the state playoffs might take them to the state championship game.

But it was not to be, as Brewster erased that deficit in the second half and held on to defeat LRS 55-50 and advance to the state title game.

Lind-Ritzville, meanwhile, was sent to the 3rd/5th-place game against Columbia (Burbank) tomorrow.

The Broncos took a 16-11 lead into the second quarter behind six points from Jayce Kelly and five points and six rebounds for Chase Galbreath.

Kelly then caught fire in the second quarter, hitting four threes to reach 18 points by halftime as Brewster senior Kelson Gebbers, a University of Portland commit, struggled to find his offensive rhythm.

The Broncos led 32-23 at halftime.

But Brewster, an experienced bunch with a lot of Arena minutes logged in the last three years, quickly scored five points early in the third quarter. LRS's lead was trimmed to three at the first media timeout of the third quarter before the Bears took their first lead since it was 4-2 at 40-39 in the final minute of the period.

Lance Williamson hit a big three for the Broncos to give LRS a 42-40 lead into the fourth quarter, but Gebbers hit a larger trey with 2:22 left to give Brewster a 51-46 lead.

Kelly hit his sixth three to make it 51-50, but LRS couldn't find the basket again as Brewster held on.

"We had that lead in the first half. Jayce got on fire a little bit," Arlt said. "Unfortunately, Brewster came back pretty quick in that third quarter. It was back-and-forth. I was pleased we got that lead back going into the fourth. We've played a lot of games here and pulled them out, but tonight we looked a little tired. Some of those shots that had been going for us fell off the rim."

Gebbers finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Tyson Schertenleib added 16 points for the victors.

Kelly was the player of the game for LRS, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Galbreath also had a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Opening games

The Broncos team came into the 2B state tournament at the Spokane Arena ranked No. 9, but one wouldn't know that based on LRS's performance through two games.

The Broncos pulled away from No. 8 Adna in a loser-out game 61-46 Wednesday, March 1 and upset No. 2 Morton-White Pass, 51-44, to advance to the state semifinals Thursday, March 2.

Against Adna

Adna and Lind-Rtizville played neck-and-neck for two and a half quarters.

The Pirates and Broncos were tied 14-14 after a quarter, then LRS took a 26-25 into halftime.

The Broncos finally gained some separation late in the third quarter, building a 44-38 lead that blossomed into double digits four minutes into the final period.

Jayce Kelly had a big game for LRS, pouring in 24 points. Chase Galbreath added 13 points and Hunter Dinkins had 11 points for the Broncos.

"We kind of wore them out a little bit. Got it to six heading into the fourth," Arlt said. "Got a little shaky with a couple minutes to go but pulled it out and to hold another team under 50 (points) and win by 15 points with it being a one-point game at halftime, that's a heck of a win right there."

Braeden Salme led Adna with 18 points.

The win sent Adna packing and pushed LRS into a quarterfinal matchup with the vaunted Timberwolves, who came into the tournament as one of the state title favorites.

Morton-White Pass

The Broncos took a 13-11 lead in the first quarter. Six-foot seven-inch Morton-White Pass post Josh Salguero put up seven points but picked up two quick fouls.

Salguero's foul trouble proved pivotal, as the post headed to the bench with his third foul with 5:11 left in the first half as LRS expanded its lead to 19-11.

LRS led 23-18 at halftime behind 8 points from Dinkins and six points from Galbreath.

Meanwhile, MWP missed several layups that would've put the favorite up by multiple possessions at the break.

The Broncos kept the pressure on, getting scores from eight players throughout the game and building a lead as large as 11. Salguero only played half the game with foul trouble and could never get in a rhythm, and the upset was apparent with three minutes to play.

LRS won, 51-44, a season-low in points for Morton-White Pass.

"It was just a great team effort. Scrappy, gritty," Arlt said. "We did just enough. We hit some big shots (and) never let them get rolling."

Galbreath led the charge with 16 points. Kelly had nine points, all in the fourth quarter.

Dinkins added 8 points, while Nick Labes and Hayden Melcher scored 5 key points apiece for Lind-Ritzville.

Hunter Hazen led Morton-White Pass with 20 points, while Salguero managed 13 points.