The RDC Kings burst out to a 27 point first half lead and didn’t look back with a 95-72 victory over the Briercrest College Clippers in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play on Saturday.
For the second straight night, Phoenix, Arizona native Daniel Powell led the Kings with a massive 22 point game in just 28 minutes. He also had 15 defensive rebounds and 18 boards total.
Powell is in his first year with the Kings but fourth year of college eligibility. The forward joined RDC for their final two games before the Christmas break and previously played for Evergreen State College in Washington.
“On the defensive boards he’s a monster. He 18 today, 15 of those defensive. (Friday) he ended up with 17. So 35 rebounds is serious weekend’s worth of work on the boards,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger.
While the Kings had a massive first-half advantage, they were actually outscored by the Clippers 47-43 in the second half, something Pottinger was particularly pleased with post-game.
“We did enough to win, there’s a lot of things I would have liked to see us do better. We turned the ball over a lot in the second half and we kind of let our intensity down once we had opened up the 20 plus point lead,” Pottinger said.
“That’s something we need to work on, play at a high clip no matter what the score is.”
The Kings largest lead of the game was 33, early in the fourth quarter and they converted 27 second-chance points in the win.
RDC had five players in double figures, including player of the game, first-year forward Eric Bakker who had 16 points. Dshawn Tyrell added 15, while Red Deer product Spencer Klassen chipped in 14 in the victory. Omon Edobar came off the bench and scored 15 points.
Pottinger said going forward he needs his team to
“We’re on a four-game win streak right now. The teams we have to beat in order to establish a playoff position are coming up,” Pottinger said.
“we’ve got to continue to play together. We’ve got to feature some of our top guys for what they can do. The main thing is we have to defend a bit better which is something we haven’t done in the first half of the year.”
The Kings have a 7-4 record and will host the Olds College Broncos next Saturday with tip off set for 8 p.m.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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