Broncos beat Roughriders, fall to Falcons

The Wauneta-Palisade boys’ basketball team picked up its third win of the season last week. The team lost to Hitchcock County Friday night before beating Southwest Saturday.
Broncos’ Head Coach Rod Gaston said his team was looking forward to playing the Falcons.
WP played a good first half against Hitchcock County. The Broncos were trailing 4-11 before Braxton McKinney scored on three straight possessions. A Grant Walker three pointer gave the Broncos an 18-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
    “I felt our defense did an excellent job of taking away their inside game the first half,” Gaston said.  
    “Getting some balanced scoring the first half with Braxton, Garrett, Ruel and Grant showed some of our capabilities,” he said.
WP increased that lead to 22-17, but then was outscored 3-16 over the final six minutes of the half.
The Broncos’ offensive struggles continued in the second half. WP only points came on a Kyle Jutten basket and two free throws by McKinney.  WP went scoreless for 9:30 in the second half, broken by a Garrett Hanna basket, and lost 33-70.
McKinney scored 15 points for the Broncos.
    One night later the Broncos were in Bartley to take on Southwest, a team it beat 54-43 Dec. 11.
    The game got off to a slow start. WP led 6-2 with two minutes left in the first quarter. A free throw by Ruel Malcolm and field goal by McKinney increased the advantage to 9-4, before a Walker three pointer at the buzzer ended the first quarter.
    Seven points by McKinney increased the lead to 19-8. Hanna finished off the half with four straight points to keep the Broncos’ advantage in double-digits, 23-12.
    The Roughriders came out of the locker room fired up and quickly cut the score to 25-21.
    “We needed to go back to the things we were doing in the first half that were successful,” Gaston said.

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