Bakker and Kings cruise past Broncos in home opener
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Olds College (0-1, 0-1) | 31 | 46 | 77 |
|
Red Deer College (1-0, 1-0) | 44 | 49 | 93 |
Brent Forster - RDC
Red Deer, AB - The RDC Kings kicked off their home opener in style at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. Outscoring the Olds College Broncos in each half, the Kings rolled to a 93 - 77 victory.
The Kings hit the court with energy and scored 44 first half points. Perhaps, more impressively was limiting the Broncos' scorers to only 31.
Anthony Harper (4) Picture - Colby Brochu Photography
The RDC Kings offence was firing on another level in the second half, adding another 49 points and earning a 93 - 77 decision.
Malik Smith was the Kings' points leader with 18. Eric Bakker chipped in with 13 and Khurram Sultan had 12.
Malik Smith (5) Picture - Colby Brochu Photography
Karan Gill totaled 16 points, 2 steals, 1 assist and 3 rebounds for the Broncos.
Kings Basketball Head Coach Clayton Pottinger thought that it was his team's best performance so far of the young season. "I thought that this game was probably our most complete game of the year," he says. "There are still a lot of things, looking at it as a coach, that you want to fix but it was probably our most complete game on the defensive end in particular."
Spencer Klassen (21) Colby Brochu Photography
Eric Bakker was selected as the Kings Player-of-the-Game. Along with his 13 points, the Business Adminstration student contributed 15 rebounds and 3 steals in the win.
"I loved Eric's consistency. When I talk about the team being consistent, Eric is probably the model of that, even going back to last year," says Pottinger. "So, I love it. If you look at the stats, he didn't have a great first half so it was the second half when he really picked it up on the boards. He did more after we called on him to do a little bit more at the half-time talk."
In the first half, Bakker had 8 points, 2 steals and 6 rebounds. In the latter half, the student-athlete from Calgary accumulated 5 points, 1 steal and 9 rebounds.
On Friday, October 26, the RDC Kings (1 - 1) will host the St. Mary's University Lightning (1 - 2) at 8:00 p.m. at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.