By Tina Kitt
    The Wauneta Breeze
    
     In a powerful basketball season, Coach Dave Kuhlen's Bronco boys garnered the strongest state-tourney finish of any WP boys basketball squad after making it to the final four. They also capped the year with an 18-5 record, the best on the books for the squad.
     "Overall it's been a great year, something the kids can be very proud of," said Kuhlen.
     The Broncs grabbed early wins over two southwest Nebraska powerhouse teams - Arapahoe and Cambridge - to establish from the start of the season they were a team with which to contend.
     After a disappointing loss to Wallace, the Broncs took off on a seven-game spree before faltering against a much-improved Grant squad, as well as Garden County the following night, to take their record to 8-3.
     The Broncs cruised to wins over Paxton, Wallace, Wheatland, Maywood, and Dundy County, including evening the score against Wallace in the GPAC finals, where the Broncs claimed their third straight title.
     Carrying a 14-4 record into subdistricts, with loss number four coming earlier at Sutherland, the Broncs pummeled Crawford, 104-34, before defeating Leyton to face Cambridge in the district final.
     In a hard-fought battle in McCook, the Bronco boys downed the Trojans, last year's C2 state champs, marking the second time in three years the Bronco boys have made the trip to Lincoln.
     This marked the first time since 1994 that both the Bronco boys and girls had both qualified for state in the same year.
     Taking on Spencer-Naper in the opening round, the Bronco boys grabbed the first state-tourney win ever earn--ed by a Wauneta-Palisade boys basketball squad. They were defeated at Pershing Auditorium in their final four contest against Humphrey St. Francis to close their season at 18-5.
     Sophomore Andrew Isom, who was named to the Omaha World-Herald's Class D1 All-Nebraska Team, was the leading scorer for the Broncs, amassing 389 points over the season while averaging 16.9 points a game. He was also the leading rebounder with 146 boards this season, and led in steals with 67.
     Russell Ridlen led the team in assists, dishing out 100. Marc Klima was the Broncs' leading 3-point shooter, putting down 50, and the second leading rebounder with 127 boards.
     As a team the Broncs outscored their opponents 67-49 on average, hitting 46 percent from the field and 65 percent from the foul line.
     Senior Cory Flaig had 117 rebounds and 184 points as the senior leader among a young squad. Kuhlen noted that he will miss this year's seniors - Flaig, Brad Licht and Cody Egle - next season.
     "We will lose three real important seniors, three quality young men," said Kuhlen. "They have worked hard for six years and really improved."
     While WP has a lot of experienced players coming back next year, Kuhlen is quick to point out that Humphrey St. Francis does too. He said his squad has the potential to take their game, their thinking, to the next level, where just getting to state isn't the main goal, but actually winning it is within their reach. That will require players pushing themselves during the off-season, points out Kuhlen.
     "If we want to win a state championship we have to be willing to work really hard during the summer."
     The Broncs had five members of the squad garner all-conference honors, including Isom and Klima on first team, Cory Flaig on second team, and Russell and Trevor Ridlen as honorable mentions.