RDC Kings scoring depth a big strength
When Randy Davis went down with an ankle injury in the opening game of last year’s Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League quarter-final series against the Concordia Thunder it left Adam Shaw as the RDC Kings main offensive threat.
Shaw was outstanding in the three games of the best-of-three series, but he couldn’t carry the team by himself and the Kings were eliminated.
But this year it’s a different story.
The third-year guard from Grande Prairie has plenty of help as the Kings face the MacEwan Griffins in the best-of-three league quarter-finals series, which opens Thursday at 7 p.m. at RDC. The second game goes Friday at 8 p.m. MacEwan with a third game, if necessary, Saturday at 7 p.m. at RDC.
“We have a lot of depth . . . on any given night one of the guys can put up 20 points,” said Shaw. “We have a lot of talent . . . it’s a scary team.”
Shaw finished the year averaging 9.44 points per game, although he missed most of the final four games of the season with the ‘flu.
Davis led the Kings, and the ACAC’s South Division, in scoring with a 17.3 average while Billy McNutt averaged 17 points per game.
Throw in Adam Jones, Brett Gaudreau, Andrew Cassidy, Connor Fairbanks and Charles McLean and the Kings aren’t short on scoring.
“In the end it doesn’t matter who scores, it comes down to us playing as a team,” added Shaw.
The Kings won’t have an advantage over the Griffins when it comes to offence as MacEwan averaged 84 points per start and the Kings 79.4. However, the difference comes on the boards and on defence.
The RDC crew, led by McNutt, who averaged 14 rebounds per game, are one of the premier rebounding teams in the league and they held the opposition to 65.5 points per game. The Griffins gave up 74 points per start.
“We’ve played them a couple of times this year and watched them on tape, so we have a good idea what they do,” said Shaw. “They’re certainly skilled and are athletic, but as long as we get the stops (defensively) we’ll be fine.”
Kings head coach Craig Behan isn’t taking the Griffins, who finished third in the North Division with a 16-8 record, lightly.
“Their guards are tough and physical,” he said. “They get away with using a lot of hands and so we have to be ready for that stuff. They run their offence from the outside to the inside and will put the ball up when they see the rim.
“Plus they put up some Ws this year so they know how to win.”
But so do the Kings, who posted a 15-5 record and were second in the south to Mount Royal.
The Kings go into the series healthy.
“The bye week was perfect for us,” said Behan.
The winner of the series advances to the Final Four, set for March 6-8 at Concordia.
The other quarter-final series sees Concordia facing Medicine Hat, Mount Royal against NAIT and Lakeland hosting Lethbridge.
• Both RDC teams will be involved in the ACAC volleyball championships, beginning Friday— the women at Mount Royal and the men at Grande Prairie.
The Queens, who go in ranked No. 2 in Canada, back of the Vancouver Island Mariners of Nanaimo, face Lakeland College at 6 p.m. Friday.
In other opening round matches SAIT takes on Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat clashes with MacEwan and Mount Royal meet’s King’s.
The semifinals go Saturday — if the Queens win they play at 6 p.m. — with the final Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Kings open at noon Friday against MacEwan while in other matches Briercrest takes on Medicine Hat, Keyano faces SAIT and Mount Royal meets Grande Prairie.
The semifinals go Saturday with the final at 3 p.m. Sunday.
• The top-ranked RDC mixed curling team of skip Tyler Bennett, third Jennifer Roth, second Dustin Vikse and lead Jilaine Erichson will compete in the ACAC finals, beginning Friday in Vermilion.
• Volleyball Kings’ libero Brandon Perrott and hockey Queens veteran defenceman Lindsay Hogg received the Booster Juice RDC athlete of the week awards.
Perrott was solid for the Kings as they swept a best-of-three qualifying series against NAIT while Hogg was strong on the blueline for the Queens against Mount Royal despite playing with a separated shoulder.
Contact Danny Rode at drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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