SPEARFISH - The Belle Fourche Broncs jumped on Pine Ridge early and never relinquished the lead en route to a 67-56 victory in the Perkins Classic at the Young Center on Thursday night.

"We just came out flat, no intensity, no energy," Pine Ridge head coach Bill Pourier said afterward.

"I think being off the last few days over Christmas break kind of hurt us, because after that first quarter our intensity picked back up."

The Broncs got a nice all-around offensive effort as Daniel Herman, Sam Pehl, Brady Bisgaard and Zach Grapentine were all viable options, but it was the play of 6-foot-5 post Kyle Grubb that proved to be the main difference between the two teams. Grubb finished the night with 19 points and 15 rebounds, all but one of which came in the first half. Grubb grabbed nine rebounds in the first quarter alone.

"I just wanted to come out and play as hard as I could," Grubb said.

"I knew that I was going to be the biggest player on the floor tonight so I really wanted to concentrate on rebounding."

The strategy worked as the Broncs dominated in the paint on both ends to open the game and take a 21-11 lead after the first quarter. The Thorpes played Belle Fourche pretty evenly from their on out but never managed to get the lead down to less than seven points, and that came with just 1:47 remaining in the game and Belle Fourche up 61-54.

"We had a good early start and that was important," Belle Fourche head coach Jim Martin said.

"We got the ball inside and that's where we need to get it."

Junior forward Roman Leftwich was the Thorpes' best player while he was on the floor, scoring 17 points before fouling out at the end of the third quarter.

"I thought we played a lot better defense in the second half," Pourier said of his team. "We need to start coming out with that kind of intensity to start or else this is what is going to happen."

The Broncs (3-3) are off until Jan. 5 when they play at Hot Springs.

Pine Ridge will play Saturday in the Snowball Classic in Winner.