Bakker and the Kings win big at home

Brent Forster - RDC

The Red Deer College Basketball Kings competed against the Briercrest College Clippers Friday evening at home, and after the Kings took an early lead they never relented. The RDC Kings outscored the Clippers in 3-of-4 quarters and they rolled to a 94-67 victory. The Kings earned the decisive win without offensive forces, Darien Valdes and Omon Edobar, who were recovering from injuries. 

The Kings put up 20 points in the opening quarter and the Clippers responded with 14. Dshawn Tyrell led the way for RDC with 9 points. Cal Rediron picked up 5 points for Briercrest College. 

The RDC Kings dominated the second quarter and outscored the Briercrest College Clippers 25-8. At the half, the Kings led 45-22. In the quarter, Eric Bakker and Daniel Powell scored 11 points each for RDC. Dominick Otteni had 4 points for Briercrest College.

The offence was clicking in the third quarter for the Kings as they scored 33 points. The Clippers answered with 26. After three quarters, the RDC Kings were up by 30 points (78-48). Powell had a dominant quarter with 16 points, 1 steal and 2 rebounds. Dominick Otteni scored 8 for the Clippers.

The Kings put up 16 points and the Clippers scored 19 in the fourth quarter. The RDC Kings earned a convincing 94-67 victory. Daniel Powell contributed 6 points in the quarter. Brian Tolentino chipped in with 8 points for the Clippers. Powell led the Kings offensively with a game high 36 points while Dominick Otteni had 19 for the Clippers. Eric Bakker had a strong game and stacked up 15 points, 2 steals, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and connected on 6-of-8 shots from the field for RDC.

Kings Basketball Head Coach Clayton Pottinger was satisfied with the play over three quarters and will look for a few areas to improve on Saturday. "I thought that we did a good job in the first three quarters. As a coach, there are always some things to look at. I thought that in the fourth quarter we could have managed it better," said Pottinger. "In the last 1:38 we gave up 5 shots, which should be 1, maybe 2 shots, as we manage out the clock. We were coming down, shooting the quick shots, and then just pacing it up when we didn't need to. We had a big enough lead at that point that it didn't come back to haunt us."

Pottinger liked the Kings' ability to win the battles on the boards. "Daniel (Powell) and Eric (Bakker) both had double digits in rebounds and especially on the defensive end, they did a really good job cleaning it up. We are pretty happy with our ability to rebound. In the first half of the season we were about 50-50 and now with the additions of Danny and Stachel (Benjamin) we can clean that up and maybe be on the winning end of a few more rebounding battles." The Kings outrebounded the Clippers 57-41. Eric Bakker, a 6'4" forward from Calgary, had 13 rebounds, including 9 in the defensive zone. Powell, a 6'8" forward from Phoenix, stacked up 13 defensive rebounds and had a total of 16.

Daniel Powell was named the player-of-the-game for the RDC Kings. The Open Studies student accumulated 36 points, 4 steals, 3 assists, 16 rebounds and shot 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. 

Pottinger likes Powell's range of skills. "Daniel is mobile and super skilled. He can dribble it and shoot it," said Pottinger. "His skill set is like a guard, but like a 260 pound guard." 

The RDC Kings (6-4) will host the Briercrest College Clippers (0-10), Saturday, January 20 at 3:00 p.m. in a weekend rematch. The Kings are tied for third spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Basketball South Division with the Ambrose University Lions. Both teams have 12 points.