Kings 102 Kodiaks 79
Chris Porteous wasn’t on the radar screen when RDC Kings head basketball coach Craig Behan hit the recruiting trail this season.
Behan was interested in former Douglas College standout Graeme McCallum and Porteous just happened to be on hand.
“I was playing on the same men’s team (in Vancouver) as Graeme and when he talked to coach (Behan) and mentioned it to me I thought it would be fun. He mentioned it to coach and he called me,” explained the six-foot-five Porteous, who pumped in 32 points while adding three rebounds and six assists in the Kings 102-79 victory over the Lethbridge College Kodiaks in Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League play at RDC Saturday afternoon.
Porteous’ addition not only added talent, but another veteran to the Kings, who have nine first-year players on their squad.
“Graeme and I are both captains on the team and we’ve both played at the nationals before, so we’re looked at to bring more experience and some leadership both on and off the court,” said Porteous, who played college ball with Capilano College in Vancouver two years ago.
So far the Kings have done a good job of coming together as a team, despite adding players from Toronto to Vancouver.
“We do have a mix of styles from across the country, but we’re coming. The guys all get along off the court, which helps as well,” added Porteous.
The Kings need to work as a team with Behan serving the second of his six-game suspension for remarks he made concerning the officiating during last year’s championship playoff in Edmonton.
“Without Craig everyone has to step up and the guys have done a good job along with both assistant coaches Tim (McLenahan) and Lee (Sprunger),’ said Porteous.
The Kings turned in a solid two-way game Saturday as they jumped into a 27-18 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“We did a good job of sharing the ball and we had better transition defence than Friday (a 98-77 win),” said Sprunger. “We forced them to run a half-court offence. They have a good team and if you give them room to hit their shots they’ll hurt you. Overall we did a good job.”
Jason David added 15 points for the Kings while McCallum and Lloyd Strickland had 11 each and Adam Weir 10. Weir and Eric Baker, who had eight points, had six rebounds each.
The Kings dominated on the boards finishing with 45 rebounds compared to 29 for Lethbridge.
Kodiaks 77 Queens 55
Defensively the Queens turned in a better performance in their 77-55 loss to the Kodiaks Saturday than they did in an 83-64 defeat Friday, but they struggled to find any kind of consistency on offence.
“We dug ourselves into a big hole right off the bat and you have to be able to compete at all times against a team of that calibre,” said Queens head coach Dawn Smyth, whose squad trailed 19-4 after the first quarter and 38-18 at the half.
The Queens did battle back to narrow the gap to 12 points midway through the fourth quarter, but a three minute lull opened the gap up once again.
“You make a mistake and they have a team that can capitalize,” said Smyth. “They have several experienced players and they’re able to take advantage of the younger players mistakes.
“But despite the losses this weekend it was good for us,” said Smyth. “They have one of the best presses in the league and getting a chance to work against it this early will help.
“We did have too many turnovers today (36), but they put a lot of pressure on us. Those will come down with experience.”
Trudie Lefurgey led the Queens with 10 points while Katlyn Olsen and Megan Ivancic had eight points each. Kari Youmans and Kim Njaa had seven rebounds apiece. Fourth-year guard Kayla Lambert had 23 points for Lethbridge with Anne Mercer and Ashley Peterson adding 11 each.
The RDC squads travel to Medicine Hat next weekend for a doubleheader and host SAIT, Nov. 6.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com