Kings 88 Trojans 77
So far so good.
The RDC Kings took a major step toward finishing in at least third place in the Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League South Division with an 88-77 victory over the SAIT Trojans at RDC Saturday.
The win gave the Kings a sweep of their two-game home-and-home series against the Trojans and gave them an 8-5 record and dropped the fourth-place Trojans to 6-8.
“We did what we needed to do this weekend,” said Kings head coach Clayton Pottinger. “We’ve won four in a row and we’re playing good, but we also have a way to go to get the bench guys to where we want them to be. We’re focusing on getting better one day at a time.”
The Kings have a shot at finishing second and got some help when Lethbridge took both ends of a doubleheader from Medicine Hat, who slipped to 7-7.
The Kings face then Kodiaks in Lethbridge twice next weekend.
Except for the early going the Kings never trailed as they dominated the boards, finishing with 58 rebounds compared to 29 for the Trojans.
“It was a good effort,” added Pottinger.
“They’re a scrappy team, but we tried to use our size advantage inside as they don’t have an inside presence. They’re gamers and hit five threes in the first quarter, so they’re dangerous if you don’t defend well.”
But despite the five first-quarter three pointers, the Kings led 25-19 after the quarter.
“When you have 15 points on threes and still trail it showed defensively they let down and opened the door for us,” said Pottinger. “We were able to start better than we did Friday (in a 77-71 win).”
The Kings got a solid effort from a number of players, including Joel Carroll, who just joined the Kings this weekend.
“He’s a quick study and works hard,” said Pottinger.
“He’s still a bit rusty, but he has the potential to score 20 and I’m expecting he’ll average eight to 10 points a game. He’s played a good role tonight as Sarain (Soonias) played 40 minutes Friday and needed a break tonight and Joel was one of the guys to fill in.”
Soonias finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists and controlled the game when he was on the floor and was named the Kings player of the game.
“The last four games you can see his offensive production improving,” said Pottinger.
“His defence is there and he’s a rebounding machine. Not a lot of teams in the league have a big guy and he makes a difference for us on and off the court.”
Rob Pierce had another outstanding game with 17 points and 15 rebounds while Eric Bakker had 20 points and nine boards. Tervil Brown had 27 points for the Trojans.
Trojans 78 Queens 47
The Queens don’t have the depth to play back-to-back high-paced, tough games, which was evident Saturday as they dropped a 78-47 decision to the Trojans. The game was 24 hours after a 66-61 loss at SAIT.
The Trojans, using a full-court press, caused the Queens problems moving the ball, plus they did a good job on the boards.
“They did a better job rebounding than they did Friday and they got a lot of second shots,” said Queens head coach Dawn Smyth. “We didn’t come out as hard as we did Friday and didn’t show up as a unit.
“They are deeper than we are and back-to-back games, playing that hard, is tough and without a full roster it hinders us.”
The Queens were within seven midway through the third quarter when they appeared to hit a wall.
The Queens are without veteran guard Stephanie Tremblay, who is out with a concussion.
“She got hit under the chin at home last weekend and there was no call,” said Smyth. “It’s unfortunate for her as this is her fifth year and she could be out for the rest of the season. It would be nice if the referees would protect the shooters. I’m not sure if the officials here see us too much because we don’t get the calls we do away from home.”
Sara Astorga had 12 points for the Queens while Erin Wiersma had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Lauren Loyek 10 points. Rachel Caputo had 19 points for SAIT.
l CALGARY — The RDC volleyball squads made short work of the Trojans Saturday, both winning 3-0.
The Queens won 3-0 for the second straight night against the Trojans, recording a 25-20, 25-20, 25-23 victory while the Kings, who needed five sets to win Friday, won 25-8, 25-21, 25-22.
“The scores were closer, but it was similar to Friday,” said Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “Our serve receive, passing and defence was good. We may not have clicked as good on our blocking or offence, but overall it was a good double win.”
Megan Brouwer was the RDC player of the game with 14 digs and was solid on serve receive while Jaclyn Neufeld had six kills and 18 digs.
Kings head coach Aaron Schulha started the same lineup that finished Friday, starting left side David King and middle Jordon Gardiner.
“We started extremely well and took advantage of the fact they were playing for the third time in four days,” said Schulha. “The guys turned in a real solid road game. Stepped up early and didn’t let down.”
Setter Jackson Maris was the player of the match with five kills and six digs while Quentin Schmidt had 14 kills and two stuff blocks.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com