Kings start Royalty Classic with victory
Although the score may not indicate it the Canadian University College Aurora of Lacombe were no pushovers as the RDC Kings opened the Ramada Inns Royalty Classic men’s basketball tournament at RDC Wednesday.
“They’re very good. Last year we played a practice game with them here and won by six and then up there in December and they beat us by one,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger following a 109-73 victory.
“We have a lot of respect for them and they came out hard in the first quarter. But we’ve been working hard on our defence and turnovers were huge in this game. We probably scored 30 points on our transition game and that was the difference.”
While CUC also had the ability to push the ball on offence they didn’t have the depth of the Kings and after a close opening quarter the RDC crew extended the lead to 51-31 at the half. CUC managed to narrow the gap to 18 in the third quarter and trailed 76-58.
“They’re a good team and I would have loved to have been sitting over there (in the stands) and watch them,” said CUC head coach Peter Ford with a laugh. “But we don’t see this level of competition on a consistent basis. But it’s a lot of fun playing them.”
CUC, which is a religious school, has players from across Canada and the United States and play in the ACAL (Alberta Colleges Athletic League).
“It’s a developmental league, but we do try to play as many exhibition games against ACAC (Alberta colleges Athletic Conference) teams as we can,” explained Ford, who would like to move into the ACAC.
“This is the fourth year for our program and we’re looking at it (ACAC),” he said.
CUC also has women’s basketball, which is in it’s second year, as well as men’s and women’s volleyball and soccer.
The Kings were able to use their complete bench, something Pottinger knows will only help down the road.
“We have more depth this season and we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to get that playing time. The experienced guys, who played a lot of minutes last year, are comfortable in giving up some of those minutes for the greater good,” he said.
Joel Carroll led the Kings with 15 points while Rob Pierce added 14, David Poole 13, Matt Johnson 12, Jacob Cusumano 11, Ashunti Hogan and Brian Prenoslo 10 each, Sam Lolik nine, Daniel Bass eight and Lloyd Strickland seven.
Courtney Fleurantin had 18 for CUC with LaDerrius Watford adding 12, Jeremy Porviance 11 and Vic Boss 10.
The Kings meet Lethbridge College today at 8 p.m. while CUC takes on Olds College at 4 p.m.
On Friday, CUC and Lethbridge clash at 2 p.m., the RDC Queens meet St. Mary’s College out of Calgary at 6 p.m. and the Kings take on Olds at 8 p.m.
The Queens and Ambrose College of Calgary clash at noon on Saturday with Olds and Lethbridge meeting at 2 p.m.
COMMENTS
Let's keep comments:
We ask that all participants own their words by logging in with their Facebook account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and “drive-by” commenters.
We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using screen names, pseudonyms or false identities. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.