The Red Deer College Kings went 1-1 in a pair of home games on the hardwood on Saturday.
RDC first beat The King’s University 92-82 and then fell to the Okanagan College Coyotes 80-78.
Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger said despite losing the second game, the team played better in that matchup.
“It was a more complete basketball game,” said Pottinger. “Okanagan is a veteran team with some very complete players so it was a good matchup.”
Pottinger said the Kings will need to work on team defence, rebounding and one-on-one defence before the regular season starts later this month. All of those got exposed in the game against the Coyotes, he added.
“These are the games we want to find ourselves in so we can learn to overcome adversity and rise to the occasion,” he said.
Red Deer and Okanagan went back-and-forth all game long. With 1.3 seconds left, Coyote Davide Ciancio put his team up by two after scoring on a fast break.
After an RDC timeout, Spencer Klassen hit a three-pointer for the Kings, but the referee determined the buzzer had gone.
“I thought the shot was good … but the ref’s standing right there and he made the call,” Pottinger said. “We’ve executed that play in under one second and I don’t think we’ve ever executed more quickly than that.”
Klassen agreed with Pottinger, saying he thought he released the ball before the buzzer went.
Even though Klassen disagreed with the call, he said both games on Saturday were great learning experiences for the team.
“It’s a long season and it’s just the beginning, but we’re looking pretty good,” said Klassen. “It’s been fun so far and it was a great day to see where we stand.”
There are some things the team will have to work on before the season officially begins, he added.
“We have to work on our transition defence and our defence in general - we still have a couple tweaks to make,” he said.
Red Deer College will have one more pre-season game next weekend before the regular season starts on Oct. 21 at St. Mary’s University. The Kings’ first home game will be against SAIT Polytechnic on Oct. 28.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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