By Dave Vrbas

The Wauneta Breeze

The Bronco boys averaged nearly 60 points while limiting their opponents to an average of just 27 during their past four games, rolling to a Cambridge Invite championship earlier in the week then defeating Hitchcock County and Southwest handily over the weekend.

At Cambridge, the Broncos rolled right over the top of Southern Valley, posting a 48-21 win over the C-1 team, then repeated a victory over Cambridge, 54-42, to repeat as Cambridge Invite champs for the second straight year.

Heading off to Trenton for a game against Hitchcock County, it was another lopsided victory for the Broncos, 63-33. At home versus Southwest on Saturday, the Broncos posted a 74-15 thumping to up their record to 8-2 overall.

Southern Valley scoring blitz

Chris Bartels posted 19 points to lead all scorers in the Broncos’ first-round Cambridge Invite game against Southern Valley.

Jumping out to a 16-6 first-quarter lead, the Broncos rolled right over the top of the Eagles, leading 30-10 going into halftime and 42-12 by the end of the third quarter of play. 

Bartels’ 19 points led the team in scoring, and he led in assists with six. He also pulled down nine boards, second best on the team. His field goal ratio was seven-for-nine as he posted an impressive 78 percent effort from inside.

Drew Harris posted a double-double, tossing in 11 points and pulling down 12 boards. He shot three-for-four beyond the arc for 75 percent.

Other Broncos putting points on the board were Myles West with nine, Ricky Martin and Bo Fanning with four each, and Landen Lawless with a free throw for one.

The Broncos led on the boards, 36-27, and smacked back six blocked shots. Harris had four of those blocked shots and Martin two.

Tourney champs after beating Cambridge for second time

Cambridge took an early lead, but the Broncos used an 11-5 second-quarter scoring advantage to take control of the game and post a second straight Cambridge Invite championship, 54-42.

Martin led three Broncos in double figures with 16 points. Bartels and Harris both added 15 points apiece. Myles West pumped in eight points to round out all scorers for WP.

Harris posted his second double-double of the tourney with 11 boards in the game, as the Broncos outrebounded the Trojans, 36-23. Martin grabbed nine boards and West seven. 

All four scorers also led in steals with four each. Harris led in assists with six.

The Broncos canned eight treys in the matchup, but even though Cambridge was more effective in their shots, the Broncos had ten more shooting opportunities than Cambridge and hit more threes.

Big win on road at HC

From the beginning of the game on, it was all WP as the Broncos jumped out 14-6 in the first half, cruised to a 34-13 halftime lead and a 55-21 third-quarter lead.

Posting the eventual 63-33 victory, the Broncos put six scorers on the board, led by three Broncos in double-figure scoring, three in double-figure rebounding and two with double-doubles.

Bartels canned four treys and three field goals for 20 points, meanwhile pulling down 12 rebounds to also lead on the boards.

Harris tossed in 17 points and pulled down 11 boards for the second double-double of the evening.

Myles West was also in double-figure scoring for the Broncos, posting 16 points. Ricky Martin pulled down 11 boards to land in double-figures for rebounds.

Other Bronco scorers were Martin with six, Logan Bischoff with three and Landen Lawless with a free throw for a point.

The Broncos hit a total of 11 treys in the game, led by Bartels’ four. Harris had three, West two, and Bischoff and Martin one each. The Broncos dominated the boards, 45-33.

Southwest at home

It was all Wau-Pal all night, as the Bronco boys completed a varsity and jayvee sweep of their visitors, the Southwest Roughriders, with a lopsided thumping, 74-15.

The game against 0-10 Southwest gave 10 Broncos a chance to get on the scoreboard, with reserve players seeing a great deal of playing time and contributing greatly to the scoring effort.

Martin led all scorers with 16 points. Two other Broncos — Harris and Bartels — finished in double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively. Bartels also pulled down 12 boards for the only double-double of the night.

Freshmen Jacob Maris and Logan Bischoff both added nine points, with Maris canning three of his four trey attempts. Other scorers were Fischer with five, Fanning, Lawless and West with three each, and Jack McGraw with two points.

The Broncos led on the boards, 44-34, and added six blocked shots to the stat book. Martin recorded three blocks, Harris two and Bischoff one.

Defensively, West was the leader, stealing the ball five times as Southwest struggled to set up any kind of offense.

Myles West and brother Reese West also led in assists with five each.

Jayvee action

There were no jayvee boys games last week since Hitchcock County and Southwest neither one had enough boys for the jayvee games.

Upcoming action

It’s back to just two games this week, as the Broncos host 5-5 Perkins County on Friday and head to Oshkosh to play 3-4 Garden County on Saturday.

Even though Perkins County’s record indicates some struggle, they boast incredible height and have played only one Class D team so far this season. They also beat Southwest by the same margin in their first game of the season.

The week after, the Broncos play at 7-3 Paxton on Thursday night. If they can pull off that win, they will probably go into RPAC the next week with the second seed in the west division behind undefeated Hayes Center.