Many contributors in Kings home win over Clippers

Brent Forster - RDC

Saturday afternoon, the RDC Basketball Kings had many contributors as they defeated the Briercrest College Clippers in consecutive games. The Kings led 52-25 at the half and rolled to a 95-72 victory.

The Kings started extremely well on their home court in the first quarter. They played with energy and outscored the Clippers 26-14. Daniel Powell led the Kings with 9 points. Brennan Gardner had 4 for the Clippers.

In the second quarter, the RDC Kings put up another 26 points. Briercrest College responded with 11. Powell and Gardner led their teams again. Powell contributed another 9 points while Gardner chipped in with 4 more. At the half, the Kings held a 52-25 lead. 

The Kings outscored the Clippers 22-19 in the third quarter. Eric Bakker accumulated 8 points, 4 rebounds and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the quarter for RDC. Thomas Neustaedter scored 5 for Briercrest College. Heading into the final quarter, RDC had a 30 point lead (74-44). 

Briercrest College had their best offensive showing in the fourth quarter with 28 points. RDC answered with 21 and finalized a 95-72 win, their fourth in a row. Omon Edobar added 6 points for the Kings while Dominick Otteni scored 8 points for the Clippers in the fourth. The Red Deer College Kings shot 43.8% from the field and dominated the boards (67-33). Daniel Powell led the Kings offensively with 22 points. Eric Bakker had 16. Omon Edobar and Dshawn Tyrell put up 15 each and Spencer Klassen accumulated 14 points for the Kings. Dominick Otteni scored 17 for the Clippers. 

Kings Basketball Head Coach Clayton Pottinger appreciated the win but always looks for ways that the Kings can improve. "I thought that we did enough to win. There are some things that I'd like to see us do better," said Pottinger. "We turned the ball over a lot in the second half and we let our intensity down after we had a 20 point lead. That is something that we have to work on regardless of the score." 

Eric Bakker was named the player-of-the-game for the RDC Kings. The first-year Business Administration student totaled 16 points, 1 block, 3 steals, 2 assists, 9 rebounds and hit all 6 of his free-throws. "Eric has been a model of consistency for us all year," said Pottinger. "He always shoots a good percentage and rebounds the ball. I do appreciate that about him."

Daniel Powell had another strong game in a Kings uniform. The Open Studies student finished with 22 points, 2 steals, 2 assists, 18 rebounds and shot 50% from the field. "Daniel is a monster on the defensive boards. He had 18 rebounds today, 15 were defensive rebounds," said Pottinger. "Yesterday he had 17, so 35 rebounds is a serious weekend's worth of work on the boards."

The Kings have gotten on a roll and it's perfect timing with some important games coming up. "We are on a four game win streak right now. The teams that we have to beat in order to establish a playoff position are coming up here in our schedule. That will be Olds, Ambrose, SAIT, Medicine Hat so we will continue to play together," said Pottinger. "We have to continue to feature some our top guys for what they can do, but the main thing that we need to do is to defend a little bit better which is something that we didn't do in the first half of the year. We are working on it."

Thursday, January 25, the Olds College Broncos (5-6) will host the RDC Kings (7-4) at 8:00 p.m. The same teams will square off Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in the RDC Main Gym. The Kings occupy third spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Basketball South Division with 14 points.