Broncos 49, Liberty 70

RITZVILLE — Lind-Ritzville hanged tough with the Lancers for the first half but fell short in the second during the Broncos' loss Tuesday.

"Liberty was a team with two losses coming in here tonight and they attacked and were aggressive," said Lind-Ritzville head coach Dwight Pflugrath. "They came after us with trap pressure and that's something we haven't worked on a lot."

The first two possessions for the Broncos were point-scoring opportunities for Myles Borth, who scored the first hoop for Lind-Ritzville with a layup and the second with a jump shot from the top of the key. He would end the night with 15 points for the Broncos.

After a quick foul, Lind-Ritzville found themselves down 7-4 with five minutes left in the quarter when Jamie Stevenson was able to draw a foul of his own while shooting beyond the arc. Stevenson earned the three from the line. He followed the trip to the line with a putback to tie the game at nine. The back-to-back plays kicked off a team-leading 19-point night for Stevenson.

A Zach Maier steal turned into a 3-ball for Shane Olson to give Lind-Ritzville a 12-9 lead.

Lind-Ritzville survived a 3-minute scoring drought that included four turnovers and eight unanswered points by Liberty to fall behind 17-12. The dry spell was ended when Matt Saetre connected with Borth for the final field goal of the quarter to make it a 3-point game.

Stevenson continued to generate points on the offensive end for the Broncos, earning a two points at the line and a 3-pointer. He then added an assist to his stats, finding Cory Whitmore in the paint for a layup to tie the game at 20 with under five minutes to play in the half.

On the next trip downcourt Maier connected with Olson for a layup to give the Broncos their second lead of the night.

Liberty tied the game at 22 and then took a brief lead before Alex Pfeifer hit his first 3-ball from the corner to give Lind-Ritzville their last lead of the game.

The Lancers regained the lead but the Broncos kept it close to the break with Borth earning a 2-for-2 stint at the free-throw line.

Bobby Helms made a final trip to the line for Lind-Ritzville, ending the half with a 1-for-2 trip to make it 31-28 at the break.

"We held steady for a half," said Pflugrath. "The kids tried to do what we asked them to do."

Liberty drew first blood in the third but the Broncos came charging back with back-to-back buckets to close the gap to one.

Three turnovers and a Liberty basket later, Olson earned a layup to cut the Lind-Ritzville deficit to 3.

With two minutes left in the third quarter, the Lancers began to pull away and completely separated themselves from the Broncos in the fourth, opening up a 22-point lead for the win.

"Give Liberty, especially their coach, credit," said Pflugrath. "He made the adjustments that needed to be made and they played well."