CALGARY — The RDC Kings first game as the No. 1 team in the country went about as planned.
The Kings controlled play at both ends of the court and pulled out an 85-64 victory over the SAIT Trojans in Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League action Thursday.
“It was a bit of a scrappy game and they battled hard as they had nothing to lose, but that’s fine as we need games where teams are forcing us to play,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger. “We need to face some adversity, and despite the score it was closer than it looked.”
Rob Pierce led the Kings with 20 point and 15 rebounds while Sam Lolik added 17 points and 11 boards and Ashaunti Hogan 17 points.
Defensively the Kings were solid.
“But they do struggle to score as they don’t have much height, so we put pressure on their perimeter players and took that away from them,” said Pottinger.
Trojans 63 Queens 42
It was a familiar scenario for Queens head coach Mike Woollard.
The Queens played a solid first half before turnovers did them in as they dropped a 63-42 decision to the Trojans.
“We once again had more turnovers than points,” said Woollard. “There’s really no reason for that. We have to get back to work on our offence and ball movement and getting people open. Hopefully we’ll fix that.”
The Queens, who were outshot 75-45, trailed 26-20 at the half before trailing 42-28 after three quarters.
“The fourth quarter we started scoring, but we also had to put on a press which gave them some easy baskets,” said Woollard.
Carly Hoar led the Queens with 10 points while former Queen Sara Astorga had 14 for the Trojans.
RDC hosts SAIT Saturday with the women tipping off at 6 p.m. with the men to follow.