Bulldog boys land in second place

Gazette Editor

Colfax boys Saturday night hit the boards on their home court with their fate in the district playoff rounds still uncertain. They needed a win in the last league round against Springdale, and they needed to know whether St. George’s finished out their league winning string with a last round win over the LRS Broncos.

The Bulldogs Saturday stacked up a 68-39 win over Springdale to finish the league run at 10-4, and the Dragons dropped the Broncos 59-41 for a 14-0 claim on the league’s top slot going into the playoffs.

The Broncos, who roared past Colfax Friday night at Ritzville to notch a short-lived tie with Colfax for second, landed in third place with a 9-5 mark.

The last round results sent Colfax north Wednesday to start the district against Reardan, the number-seven finisher in the league. The Broncos faced Davenport in the 3-6 matchup. Winners of the four Wednesday rounds will collide Friday in the district semi-finals.

Saturday in their senior night closer at home, the Bulldogs posted a big lead over the Charger team from Mary Walker of Springdale. Colfax had a 38-7 margin at the break.

The Chargers picked up the pace after the break with junior Josh Anderson hitting four three-point shots.

Brady Ellis finished with a season-high 23 points, including 18 off six three-pointers. His half dozen long rangers topped a barrage of 21 treys booked by both teams for the night.

Ellis, Brandon Gfeller, Skylar Simonson, John Mellor and Bryce Kramlich were the five seniors honored at the last home game. All had a part in the scoring.

Friday night at Ritzville the Broncos came roaring out of the chute and led 18-6 after the first quarter and 40-21 at the half. LRS shooting in the first half topped 65 percent. Final score was 68-51.

The runaway Broncos were led by Dylan Hartz and Connor O’Neill, two of the key players in the LRS football title run. Each scored 14.

Brandon Gfeller led Colfax with 25, just short of half of the Colfax point total.

In their first round game at Colfax, the big Bronco team also had a solid game going against the Bulldogs, but they lost momentum when Hartz was knocked out with an injury.

Colfax made the trip to Ritzville after stacking a run of four league wins in the second round of league action, and the Broncos hosted after sustaining a pair of derailments.

Colfax 68-Springdale 39: 19/5 19/2 17/15 13/17: Brandon Gfeller 5 (3-pt) 2-2 15, Brady Ellis 7 (6-3pt) 3-4 23, Bryce Kramlich 2 0-0 4, Mark Webber 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Keith Gfeller 3 0-0 6, Kasey Johnson 1 1-2 3, Josh Brown 0 2-4 2, Skylar Simonson 4 0-0 8, Hunter Weitze 1 (3pt) 0-0 3. Total 24 9-14 f-12 68. Springdale: Lyle Cummings 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Callan Ward 2 (both 3pt) 0-2 6, Chase Fitzgerald 3 3-4 9, 0-0 6. Total: 13 3-10 f-10 39.

Lind/Ritzville/

Sprague: 68-Colfax-51: Brandon Gfeller 25, Mark Webber 3, Keith Gfeller 2, Kasey Johnson 5, John Mellor 6, Mark Brown 2, Skylar Simonson 6. LRS: Conner O’Neill 14, Smith 2, Dylan Hartz 14, Kyle Canady 4, Cody Starring 8, Morley 2, Tyler Fredericks 12, Rushika 6.