Cougars bite RDC Kings
Cougars 74 Kings 71
The RDC Kings hopes of finishing first in the South Division of the Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League took a hit Friday, but not as bad as it could have been.
The Kings trailed the Mount Royal College Cougars by 11 points with under a minute remaining, but battled battle to drop a 74-71 decision before a full house at RDC.
The fact the Kings narrowed the deficit will make a major difference if the Kings win at Mount Royal tonight. If the two teams tie for first the first tie-breaker is the record between the two and the second tie-break is points-for-and-against. As of now the Kings have an edge of plus-four.
“It could make a difference for sure, but that’s small consolation in the way we played tonight,” said Kings head coach Craig Behan.
“We played for one minute to make it close, other than that we played like idiots and showed little knowledge of the game.”
Behan had a right to be upset as the Kings never did get into any offensive flow, until they nailed three three-pointers and a two-point field goal in the final minute. They also lacked any consistent defence.
“They (Cougars) did a good job, and deserve credit, but we got caught out of position on defence and our offence was stagnant. On the positive side we did battle to the end which had a lot to do with the big crowd.”
Behan said he was frustrated by the fact the Kings didn’t turn in their best effort, yet only lost by three.
“We know we can play better, now we have to do it,” he said.
Adam Jones, who had eight points in the final minute, finished with 15 for the Kings while Billy McNutt had an ordinary game with 14 points — 10 in the first quarter — and only six rebounds. Randy Davis and Connor Fairbanks, who was the RDC player of the game, added 13 points each.
“Connor did a great job, especially in the second half. He came in and gave us a lift,” said Behan.
Cam Dodd had 17 points for the Cougars with Steve Trinidad adding 14, Craig Jantzen 13 and Jordan Hone 12.
One of the major differences was on the boards as the Cougars had 38 rebounds and the Kings only 23.
Cougars 83 Queens 58
“I really feel the score doesn’t reflect the game . . . unfortunately it’s that score that goes up on the board,” said Queens head coach Dawn Smyth following a 83-58 loss to the Cougars, who are ranked No. 5 in Canada.
The Queens simply don’t have the height, experience or depth to stay with the Cougars, who have five players at six-foot- and over, including six-foot-five fifth-year post Katie Ward. The RDC squad has only six-foot-two rookie Morgan Rauser listed over six-foot.
Still they competed on the boards, finishing with 34 rebounds compared to 42 for the Cougars.
“We’re starting to do more of the little things right and for the most part we competed although our defence needed to show more energy,” said Smyth.
The Queens also were credited with 36 turnovers compared to 23 for the Cougars, who shot 40 per cent from the field while RDC hit 31 per cent.
Trudie Lefurgey continues to play well for the Queens, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds while Megan Wiggins had 11 points, Rauser nine and Mary St. Amand eight. Vanessa Wesolowski had 19 points and former Queens Danielle Fleming 15 for the Cougars.
Contact Danny Rode at drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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