Kings 73 Huskies 70
The playoffs aren’t supposed to be easy.
They should be the most exciting, intense matchups of the season, and that’s exactly what took place at RDC Friday evening.
The RDC Kings and Keyano College Huskies of Fort McMurray battled down to the final seconds before the Kings pulled out a 73-70 victory in the opening game of the best-of-three Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League quarter-final series.
The second game goes tonight at 7 p.m. at RDC with the third, if necessary, Sunday at 1 p.m. at RDC.
“We know they’re a good team and will battle right to the end,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger.
“It was the same thing the first time we played them (a 96-83 Keyano win in Fort McMurray). The difference is we matched their intensity tonight . . . the first time they rolled over us in the fourth quarter.”
For a time Friday it looked like history would repeat itself as the Huskies came out of the gate in the fourth quarter and overcame a 49-45 deficit to take a 54-49 lead.
They held the lead for most of the fourth quarter until the Kings were able to grab a 64-62 lead.
The Huskies came back and tied it at 64, but RDC’s Tyler Flaherty turned in the play of the game when he was able to get around his defender and launch a three-point shot as the shot clock went off.
It hit nothing but net and put the Kings up to stay with 1:24 remaining.
Sarain Soonias hit a pair of free throws with 47 seconds remaining, but the Huskies outstanding point guard — Zach Waldner — kept things close as he hit a deuce and three to narrow the gap to one point.
However, that’s when Kings third-year guard Lloyd Strickland took over, hitting two free throws with 9.2 seconds left, then after a two-point basket by Jesse Denscombe, hit two more free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining.
Strickland then put the finishing touches on the win, when he intercepted a pass.
“It was tough,” said Strickland, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds and five assists.
“But we’ve been focused on getting to the nationals and while this is only game one it feels good. Now we have to make sure we’re focused for tomorrow.”
Since coming out of Raymond, Strickland has always like the fast-paced style, which Porringer likes as well.
“Coach P has done a great job with us and I like the fact the guys are running with me. Plus I like our depth. We have guys that come off the bench and do a good job and they also push us in practice.”
Strickland also knows that to win the series the Kings will have to try to control Waldner, who had a game-high 31 points.
“He’s a great player . . . he’s something like third in the nation in scoring. I thought we worked hard against him, but we’ll have to keep trying to cut him off.”
Pottinger had worked on “a few things” to try to slow the five-foot -nine native of Longview, Wash., down.
“We had a game plan to handle him, but he’s a terrific player, as you saw tonight. Even when we’re trying to stop him we have problems. All we can do is try to keep him in check and slow him down and limit their second opportunities.”
Still the Kings held the Huskies to 70 points.
“It was a defensive battle, as we like our games,” said Pottinger. “But there’s some things we can do better, even on the offensive end.”
One thing the Kings did do down the stretch was do a better job of getting players open under the basket.
“Rob (Pierce) got a few more open shots, plus we gave Sarain (Soonias) direct instructions to be more involved in the offence which makes a big difference when we get a third and fourth scorer on the floor.”
Soonias finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Pierce had 16 points and eight boards and Eric Bakker had another solid game with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Louis Barham of Palmdale, Calif., was second on the Huskies with 11 points. Demaine Nelson had 17 rebounds.
In other league playoff news, the Grant MacEwan Griffins pulled off a shocking upset when they beat the previously undefeated and No. 1 ranked team in the country, Lakeland, 82-78 to win the best-of-three series 2-0. The Griffins won 78-72 in Lloydminster Thursday.
In other series NAIT advanced to the Final Four by beating Medicine Hat 76-69 and 83-73. Mount Royal opened their series with a 79-65 win over Concordia College.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com