Kings place 4th at ACAC Basketball Championships
In their final ACAC Men's Basketball game of the season on Saturday, the Red Deer College Kings were up against the host Medicine Hat College Rattlers in the bronze medal game. On Friday, Lethbridge College defeated Medicine Hat College 78-66. The final 4 teams competing for a medal were all members of the ACAC Men's Basketball South Division. RDC fell behind early, tried to battle back but Medicine Hat College picked up the win on their home court.
The Rattlers harnessed the energy from their home crowd and opened to a 28-14 lead after the 1st quarter. Ian Tevis picked up 4 points for RDC.
In the 2nd quarter, the Kings showed persistence and narrowed the gap. RDC outscored Medicine Hat College 27-23 and trailed 51-41 at the half. Over 2 quarters, Ian Tevis led the Kings with 9 points. The guard from Kent, Washington added 1 rebound and 4 assists. Michael Farrion picked up 12 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists for the Rattlers. Kings Head Coach Clayton Pottinger used several players from his bench and in their only 3 point attempts, both Cody White and Darryl Broderick were perfect. As a team, the Kings drained 33.3% of their shots from behind the 3-point arc.
The Kings had a solid 3rd quarter and scored 20 points while the Rattlers responded with 17. Medicine Hat led 68-61 heading into the final quarter. In the 3rd, Spencer Klassen accumulated 9 points for the Kings. Jaamel Slack picked up 5 points for the Rattlers.
Medicine Hat outscored RDC 28-21 in the 4th quarter and picked up the 96-82 win. Ian Tevis led the Kings with 8 points in the quarter and contributed a total of 22 points. The Kings finished in 4th place in ACAC Men's Basketball.
Matt Matear was named the Kings player-of-the-game. The graduating 5th year student-athlete from Calgary picked up 7 points, 2 assists and 4 rebounds.
Pottinger was proud of his team but recognized it was tough getting behind in the game early.
"We got down early and can't spot a good team like the Rattlers a big lead in their own gym," said Pottinger. "I give credit to our players for trying to battle back and they did many good things. We used everybody in the game and the guys did a great job with their minutes."
The Kings can be proud of a great effort but will look to make some adjustments next season.
"There is a lot of parity in the league," said Pottinger. "We came up short but moving forward we know what we need to do."
Following the Kings and Rattlers, the SAIT Trojans defeated the Lethbridge College Kodiaks 85-65 in the gold medal game.
The Red Deer College Kings Basketball season is now complete and will look forward to hitting the court in 2017-2018.