Ritzville Gives Tigercats Third Degree

Turns out that beating a good team three times isn’t always that tricky.

Especially when the other team’s top scorer spends much of his time sitting on the bench.

And someone who normally scores five points a game decides it’s time to shoot a few more.

Ritzville accomplished a three-game season sweep of LaCrosse-Washtucna on Wednesday, scoring the game’s final 10 points for a 62-53 win in the premier game during the evening session of the 55th boys State B high school basketball tournament at the Arena.

Junior guard Danny Duff of the Broncos (25-4), who normally distributes the ball and hadn’t scored more than 12 points all season, cashed in for 14. Duff’s 3-pointer with 1 minute, 18 seconds left, his third long-range shot of the second half, gave Ritzville the lead for good.

“The guys have been telling me to step up and shoot the ball because I don’t shoot it enough,” said Duff, whose big day came on father Dave’s birthday. “I just felt good out there. I was confident on this court, for some reason.”

“(Duff) hasn’t had to shoot the ball much, but (L-W’s) defense really stymied us,” said Broncos coach Dwight Pflugrath.

Duff complemented senior guard John Galbreath, whose 22 points were just slightly better than his average.

The Tigercats (25-4) lost to Ritzville 61-52 and 75-58 earlier in the season, but were considered tournament-ready after winning six consecutive loser-out games at the District 9 tournament.

But L-W couldn’t overcome the absence of senior forward Clint Ledbetter (17.4 points per game), who picked up his third foul with 2:05 left in the first quarter - 5 seconds after being called for his second - and sat the rest of the half.

L-W actually rallied without Ledbetter, as senior guard Troy Nealey scored 10 first-half points to turn an 18-9 deficit into a temporary slim lead, then halftime tie. Ritzville went 4:55 without scoring in the second quarter, missing its first 11 shots from the floor after hitting 7 of 12 in the first.

Ledbetter returned for the third quarter but picked up a charging foul at 3:41, with L-W ahead 33-29. He didn’t return until the 6:36 mark of the fourth quarter, after a Duff basket put the Broncos up 46-41.

“You have to credit their kids,” Pflugrath said. “They really sucked it up when Ledbetter got in foul trouble.”

The lead see-sawed the next 5 minutes. Nealey’s basket at 1:55, for a 53-52 Tigercats lead, was L-W’s final score.

L-W missed three field-goal attempts after Duff’s big 3-pointer, then the Broncos made the necessary free throws in the late going.

“I just think that we match up against them well,” Duff said. “They thought they would get some revenge, but we had other things in mind.”

“I was just glad it wasn’t Valley Christian out there,” said Pflugrath, whose team beat VC four times this year, including an overtime win at district to make state.

All four District 7 entries are in the final eight.

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