Early lead not enough for Ritzville

RITZVILLE - Lind-Ritzville/Sprague's boys basketball opened its game against defending state champion St. George's by shooting lights out, hitting their first three 3-pointers and taking an 11-point lead.

The Bronco defense was stimey and effective, and their fans were rocking the gym.

But unfortunately for the Broncos, an early lead was not enough to beat the number one team in the state, as they fell 46-60 on Saturday in Ritzville.

"We knew that we wanted to come out fast," head coach Dustan Arlt said.

He told the team to be "fearless" on offense.

The seniors preformed well, with Dylan Hartz scoring 20 points, Tyler Frederick with 13 points and Connor O'Neill with eight.

The Broncos led 34-28 at half.

"We saw what we had to do to beat them," Arlt said. "We just got to do it for four quarters, and not just two."

The turning point in the game came when Dragon senior center Dexter Sienko, took over in the paint. He had four dunks in just under two minutes and finished with 24 points.

The Broncos poor free throw shooting did not help their chances, Arlt said.

"You can't go 2-9 on free throws and beat this team," he said.

They missed each of their last four attempts.

This was unusual for the team he said, they hit 42-50 from behind the line in their previous two games.

"We just ran out of gas," Arlt said.

The Broncos played three games in five days, unusual for league play.

LRS has lost six consecutive games to the Dragons who have won more than 40 games in a row.

The Broncos, 12-2, are second in the 2B Northeast basketball standings and play tonight at Warden at 7:30.