Nine seniors conclude their careers at State B Tournament

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos entered the State B Tournament as the underdog, but the team battled to prove they deserved the spot in the state playoffs. As the smallest team in size and height, the Broncos benefited from team’s underestimating their strengths from the first game on Thursday, March 3.

The Broncos began their state experience off with a win against the fourth ranked team, Life Christian Academy. The high intensity game ended in the Broncos’ favor as they earned a 62-57 win and moved one step closer to an opportunity to compete in the championship game.

Head Coach Dustan Arlt said going into the match up, he knew Life Christian had been happy with the draw as they thought they were on the easier side of the bracket to make a run for the title. The Eagles had an extreme height advantage on the Broncos, and Arlt said the main focus was to eliminate Life Christian’s put-back points.

As a tall and lengthy team, Life Christian also benefited from quickness and athleticism. As the shorter team, Arlt said going into the game, the Broncos knew they would have to focus on outside shooting to help get them the win.

Despite the adversity of the first game, Arlt said the Broncos went into the game with a lot of excitement. Prior to the game, Arlt shared how this season proved hard for him because of the loss of his father. While the loss affected him deeply, he remained dedicated to the team and slowly overcame the grief.

Arlt said the team seemed to connect to his story and it helped bond them when they took the court.

The Broncos seemed shaky in the opening minutes of the game, but as their shots began to drop, the team gained confidence that led to a strong performance on both ends of the court. In the first quarter, all of the starters sank a bucket and the early game scoring helped boost the level of play for the five seniors.

Both teams exchanged points in the first quarter, with the Broncos edging out the Eagles by two points at the end of the quarter, 16-14. Every time the Broncos had a break away scoring run, Life Christian narrowed the gap.

In the second quarter, the Broncos jumped out to a seven point lead, but consistent put-back points by the Eagles kept them close in scoring. The two teams remained locked in a close battle in the second quarter, and a strong defensive effort kept the second quarter low scoring for both teams.

In the first half, the Broncos held the Eagles’ leading scorer, Luke Lovelady to eight points. At 6-foot-7, Lovelady earned his early buckets off of rebound points.

In the third quarter, the Broncos gained momentum after Jacob Saetre drained a three and then hit Bryce Esser low for a two-point bucket. The Broncos ended the quarter with a 39-33 lead.

With a new found intensity, the Broncos built on a six-point lead, assisted by 3-pointers from Saetre, Nick Fleming and Wyatt Roettger. After strong shooting by the Broncos, the Eagles began to utilize their strength: their height.

The Eagles began posting up and benefited from the height advantage they had over the Broncos. In the second half, Lovelady posted 15 points and helped the Eagles make a comeback.

The Broncos had a couple of bad turnovers, missed free throws and also suffered from numerous calls on defense, sending the Eagles to the line. After tying the game, the Eagles earned a momentary lead before the Broncos took back the advantage.

Dylan Becker drew a foul, which sent him to the free throw line for the Broncos. The points put the Broncos up by one, and the Eagles missed a lay-in at the other end.

The Broncos hit another bucket before Roettger went to the line to shoot two. After hitting both, the Broncos secured a five-point lead and the Eagles could not overcome the deficit.

Arlt said the Broncos pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, and the win was aided by the support of the community and the fans in attendance. The win set the tempo for the tournament, and helped the Broncos off to a good start.

As the third trip to state in the past four years, Arlt said the experience proved to be one of the best for him and the team. After having a lot of games earlier in the season when the Broncos lost the game in the fourth quarter, Arlt said the team seemed to find their strength and maintained consistency in the past three weeks of competition to earn them the right to compete at the State Tournament.

The Broncos earned the win from a strong shooting night, especially with perimeter shots. The Broncos were 10 for 24 on 3-pointers, while the Eagles were 1 for 13. The Broncos had a shooting percentage of 40.8 percent in the game, compared to Life Christian’s percentage of 32.8.

Roettger led the team with 21 points and four rebounds. Saetre ended the night with 16 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Becker ended the night with eight points, followed by Dallas Killian and Esser with five points. Alan Field had four points and Fleming had three.

The win put the Broncos into a semifinals match up against Mossyrock, with the winner moving onto the championship game. After the emotional and physical game the night prior, Arlt said he had worries about the semifinals match up.

The Broncos came out on the court seeming a step slow and having troubles hitting shots, or having their shots be close to falling. Arlt said the Broncos had been on a roll up to that point, and they had hoped the team would have it in them for one more competitive game.

Unfortunately, the Broncos could not compete with the Vikings, mainly because LRS had a poor shooting night. As a small team, the Broncos rely on their shooting to keep them in the game, but on Friday night, the team could not keep up the intensity.

Arlt said the team had not had a shooting night that poor all season. After a strong shooting performance the night before, Arlt said it hurt the team by them assuming they would have the same success. This affected their patience on offense and led to forced shots or average shots without the follow through.

Mossyrock’s Jaron Kirkley had a strong night for the Vikings, and the Broncos struggled to contain him. While Kirkley is the team’s leading scorer, Arlt said he also excels at distributing the ball to his teammates, creating an additional threat.

Arlt said the team felt the disappointment of not being able to contain Kirkley and also having a poor shooting night. With only 18 points at halftime, the Broncos had their work cut out for them in the second half to close the seven point scoring gap.

For as bad as the team shot, Arlt said the Broncos did a good job staying in the game and not letting the bad shooting prevent them from performing defensively.

In the second half, the Broncos switched into a box and one defense, a strategy they had not practiced a lot but had to use earlier in the season. It proved effective and provided the Broncos with an opportunity to get back into the game.

Saetre found his rhythm on offense and began sinking shots for the Broncos. Killian hit a three and helped create big plays for the Broncos, allowing the LRS team to bring the game within two points.

In the fourth quarter, the Broncos tied the game before they had multiple calls against them. It switched the momentum of the game back to the Vikings and the Broncos could not get shots to fall.

During the comeback, Arlt said the team used up a lot of their energy but still needed a few more buckets to win the game. Without consistent shooting, the Broncos fell to Mossyrock 48-55 and missed the opportunity to compete in the championship game.

Arlt said the game was a tough loss for the team, mainly because they were so close to earning the chance to compete for the title. The shooting proved to be detrimental for the Broncos, and with only having one athlete with double digit scoring, Arlt said it sealed their fate in the semifinal game.

Saetre ended the night with 18 points, four rebounds and three steals. Killian had nine points and four rebounds, followed by Field with eight points and three steals.

Roettger had four points and seven rebounds for the Broncos. Fleming also had four points, followed by Becker with three points and four rebounds.

The loss moved the Broncos into the final game of the tournament against Brewster for the battle for third or fifth place.

Brewster entered the tournament as the number one team in the state, and faced their only loss of the season to Northwest Christian during the semifinals. Brewster had a strong start in the tournament, and Arlt said the Broncos met up with a Brewster team that was somewhere in the middle of their two other state performances.

Going into the game, Arlt said the Broncos knew it would be a tough game. The Bears benefit from quickness and size, two traits many teams have been unable to compete with during the season.

Brewster proved to be the superior team early in the game, and the Broncos found themselves playing catch up throughout the majority of the match. The Broncos would be unable to pull off the win, and earned fifth place in the tournament with a 46-63 loss to the Bears.

After being down 8-16 in the first quarter, the Broncos made a run in the second quarter until Saetre left the game. With three fouls midway through the second, Arlt benched Saetre and the Broncos struggled to start the offense without him, mainly because of the pressure from the Brewster defense.

The Broncos had multiple turnovers, which Brewster used to their advantage. Arlt said the team did not react well to the pressure, throwing the ball away multiple times and putting up forced shots. At halftime, the Broncos trailed 18-32.

Arlt said in the locker room at halftime, the Broncos focused on talking about not giving up. The team came out stronger in the final two quarters and started to give Brewster a run for third place.

Saetre posted another strong performance, and Fleming came off the bench to add some much needed intensity for the Broncos.

After earning a one-point lead in the third quarter, the Broncos slowly lost the momentum and Brewster jumped out to another large advantage. The Broncos would be unable to catch the Bears, and in the final minutes of the game, Arlt put in the bench so every athlete would receive experience at the State Tournament.

Arlt said after allowing the seniors to have some time together on the court and enjoy the final high school basketball experience, he pulled them from the game for them to be recognized by the team and the fans.

With nine seniors, Arlt said this group proved to be united and fought in playoffs to ensure the Broncos moved on into the State Tournament.

Against Brewster, Arlt said they were a well-coached basketball team with a lot of good athletes.

For the Broncos, even though the game ended their season on a loss, Arlt said the team had a lot of fun and were happy they played their last game in the Arena.

In Saetre’s final high school performance, he recorded 21 points, three rebounds and three steals. Killian ended the tournament with eight rebounds and six points.

Roettger had four points, three rebounds and one steal for the Broncos. Arlt said while Roettger only posted four points in each of the last two state games, he was instrumental in earning the Broncos a trip to the State Tournament. Arlt said Roettger committed himself to the team and always worked hard to be a leader on the court.

Field had five points in the final game, followed by Becker and Fleming with three. Mason Brausen had two points for the team, and Ryan Frederick and Carlos Vuilleumier each sank a free throw.

Arlt said overall, the Broncos had a successful season and the fifth place finish proved to be a satisfying end to the season.

As a coach, Arlt said the past three weeks of basketball have been the best weeks of his coaching experience, especially taking a team to state that a lot of people did not think would make it and starting off state with a big win.

With the season over, Arlt said he is appreciative to the group of athletes for their dedication and for battling in the playoff games to make it to state.