Kings 106 Lightning 63
CALGARY – The RDC Kings have been inconsistent during the second half of the Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League season.
After losing high-scoring Ian Tevis during the Christmas break the Kings won only two of six starts before heading into this weekend’s doubleheader against the St. Mary’s University Lightning.
The Kings evened their second-half record at 4-4 by sweeping the twin bill from SMU, including an impressive 106-63 victory at St. Mary’s Saturday.
“It appears as if we are getting back on a roll,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger. “The previous years it was about this time when we started to hit our stride. For most of the second half we were wondering when it was going to happen, if at all. This weekend we seemed to get some of that swagger back.”
The Kings beat the Lightning 99-73 Friday but Pottinger felt the team could do a better job defensively for 40 minutes. They did Saturday.
“We played overall pretty good,” said Pottinger. “We made a couple of adjustments from Friday and we made them work harder for what they got.”
One move was to put more pressure on guard Matt Guinto, who had 24 points Friday. He had seven Saturday.
Pottinger was also able to use everyone off the bench with Khurram Sultan taking the player of the game with 15 points on five-of-six shooting from three-point range, as well as playing solid defence.
Anthony Ottley had 23 points and four rebounds, Matt Matear 22 points and five boards, Shayne Stumpf eight points, 17 rebounds and six assists, Rodney Teal 11 points, Matt Johnson eight points and 10 assists, JP LeBlanc seven points and seven assists and Jabin Binnendyk six points and five rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time.
The Kings shot a blistering 55.8 per cent from the field, including 12 of 25 from the three-point line.
The Kings and Olds sit with a 13-4 record and meet Thursday at RDC and Saturday at Olds. They finish their schedule at home, Feb. 27 and 28 against Briercrest. Medicine Hat is at 12-5 with Lethbridge at 11-6.
“We have a big weekend coming up … it’s like the playoffs have begun,” said Pottinger.
Lightning 85 Queens 62
The Queens started Saturday’s meeting with the Lightning in similar fashion to how Friday’s contest – a 69-52 loss – ended.
“We started exactly how we finished, with little defence,” said Queens head coach Ken King.
The Queens were tied 44-44 with the Lightning Friday before letting down defensively. On Saturday they were down 22-8 in the first quarter before picking up the pace.
The Queens outscored the Lightning 22-21 in the second quarter and lost the third 20-17 and the fourth 22-15.
‘Overall their press killed us,” said King. “We’d break it three or four times easily then turn the ball over three times in a row for layups. We know how to run the press break, but weren’t consistent.”
Emily White turned in a brilliant performance for the Queens, finishing with 19 points, 21 rebounds and five assists. Dedra Janvier added 15 points and Kennedy Burgess eight points and five assists.
The Queens couldn’t handle Montana Romeril, who had 31 points.
The Queens, 7-10, still have an outside shot at a playoff berth as they are tied with Olds and trail SAIT, 10-8, with four games remaining. SAIT has three games left two against undefeated Lethbridge and one against the second-place Lightning, 15-3.