McNutt delivers in Kings sweep
Kings 75 Griffins 69
EDMONTON — The RDC Kings did what they had to do to advance to the Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League Final Four, thanks to Billy McNutt.
The six-foot-eight McNutt was a one-man show for the Kings, dropping in 38 points and grabbing 24 rebounds as the Kings registered a 75-69 victory over the MacEwan Griffins Friday.
The win, coupled with an 80-58 victory Thursday, gave the Kings a 2-0 sweep of the best-of-three quarter-final series.
“We certainly didn’t play as well as we did Thursday, but we rode Billy’s coat-tails,” said Kings head coach Craig Behan. “He dominated the game and hit all his free throws down the stretch when we needed them.”
Overall the Kings didn’t shoot as well as they did Thursday, nor did they handle the ball as well.
“We had to many turnovers, but give MacEwan credit as well,” said Behan. “They played much better which we knew they would. We went in there trying to close out a series against the defending league champions and they weren’t about to go down without a fight. They didn’t want to finish their season at home.”
But then the Kings ran into foul trouble as well with Randy Davis sitting out much of the game and Andrew Cassidy fouling out in the second half.
“I found the refereeing is so involved in the north in that they call so much it’s hard to get any kind of flow going,” said Behan. “But in the end we were able to grind it out and it was a good test for us heading into the Final Four.”
The teams were tied 36-36 at the half with the Griffins taking a four-point lead in the third quarter.
The Kings managed to go up by eight in the fourth quarter before MacEwan battled back to tie it again.
“But we managed to get the ball inside to Billy late and (Adam) Shaw hit a key three,” said Behan.
The Kings were definitely underdogs among the large crowd, but they did have their supporters.
“There were a lot of people up for the match, which was a real boost for us,” said Behan. “We needed that.”
The Final Four is slated to go next weekend at Concordia College, unless Concordia loses to Medicine Hat today.
Medicine Hat evened the best-of-three Friday with a 75-69 victory.
If Concordia loses and Lakeland comes back to beat Lethbridge the Final Four will be in Lloydminster. If all four north teams lose the championships go at Mount Royal.
Lakeland evened their series with Lethbridge with an 83-82 overtime victory while Mount Royal eliminated NAIT with a 76-64 win.
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