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Kings lose first game of season

The Red Deer College Kings dropped its season-opener 89-77 Saturday night to the SAIT Polytechnic Trojans.
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Red Deer College King Dshawn Tyrell goes up fro a layup while two SAIT Trojan defenders look on Saturday. (Photo by Sean McIntosh/Advocate staff)

The Red Deer College Kings dropped its season-opener 89-77 Saturday night to the SAIT Polytechnic Trojans.

Other than a mismatched second quarter, the Kings and Trojans played a fairly even game.

RDC grabbed a 22-21 lead in the first quarter, but in the second the Kings were outscored 22-9.

The Kings fired back in the third quarter, outscoring SAIT 25-22, but still trailed 65-56 heading into the final frame.

Every time the Kings started gaining a bit of momentum the Trojans would fire right back. Ultimately the Kings couldn’t outpace the Trojans’ offence, and SAIT walked away with the 89-77 win.

Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger said while the second quarter was a difference maker on the scoresheet, the team was having problems all night.

Pottinger said he didn’t like anything about his team’s game. He said defensive rebounding was a major problem - SAIT out-rebounded RDC 64-50.

“They got too many second-chance opportunities,” said Pottinger. “You can’t give a team like that extra possessions, especially down around the basket. You’re just not going to win that way.”

Pottinger said SAIT is a solid team.

“They’re defending conference champs. They have a great basketball team and it’s always going to be a test when you get in there with them,” he said.

The Kings’ defence will need some improvements heading into its games next week at Briercrest College and Medicine Hat College, Pottinger said.

“Our transition defence really let us down too. They had some end-to-end drives that ended in open layups. A good defensive team doesn’t allow that so we clearly have to work on that,” said Pottinger.

The Kings were OK on the offensive side of the court, Pottinger added.

“Seventy-seven points technically should be enough to win a basketball game,” he said. “I’d like to see us be a little more aggressive and get to the line more … but we’re a very young team of 20-year-olds and 19-year-olds who are trying to figure things out.”

Omon Edobar led the way offensively for the Kings with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists. Dshawn Tyrell added 19 points for the Kings.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Red Deer College King Derian Valdes chases the loose basketball between two SAIT Polytechnic defender Saturday in the team’s season-opener. (Photo by Sean McIntosh/Advocate staff)


Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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