Klassen and Kings control Broncos in season opener

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB – The Red Deer College Kings got better as the game went on. In their home opener, the Kings extended a seven point lead over the Olds College Broncos at the half, to 30 points at the final horn for a 92-62 win.

The victory was the first for Kings Head Coach Darren Graham, an RDC alumnus, in the first game of the season.

"It feels fantastic," he says. "I played at Red Deer College many years ago and it feels really good to get that first W under the belt."

Led by Spencer Klassen's 21 points, the Kings held a 40-33 edge at half. Broncos Cody Bouchard sat with 13 at the break.

Over two quarters, the RDC Kings sank 40 per cent of their shots from the field. The Olds College Broncos were 24.4 per cent successful.

Graham credited the Broncos, who played with a shorter bench than usual.

"Olds is a little bit injury depleted. They worked really hard out there and gave us a really good test in the first half," says Graham. "Our energy wasn't where it needed to be on defence, but the guys pulled through, made some changes at half-time and ultimately played really hard in the second half." 

The Kings had their best offensive showing in the third quarter, putting up 27 points. The Broncos responded with 15.

The RDC Kings increased their margin by another 11 points in the final quarter, finalizing a 92-62 home victory.

As the Kings settled into the first game of the season, a more proficient defensive effort in the latter half sparked the offence.

"I think there may have been some nervousness with the first game of the year. We didn't have the energy that we needed on the defensive end and we talked about manifesting that energy on the bench and on the floor," says Graham. "Ultimately, they made the change mentally to have the energy in the second half on defence and I thought that translated into the energy on offence." 

Bachelor of Education Elementary student Spencer Klassen was named the Collegiate Sports Medicine Kings Player-of-the-Game, totaling 38 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Anders Eklund received the honour for the Broncos, finishing with seven points, seven rebounds, two steals and one assist.

"Spencer is a fantastic player. He started a little bit slow, but in the second half he took the ball to the paint which we talked about at the half," says Graham. "He got rewarded by getting to the free-throw line and then ultimately that created space for him on the outside."

RDC's Tyronn King recorded 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. MacGregor Manyluk finished with 11 points.

Former Broncos forward Jouvon Edison had six points, eight rebounds and one assist.

The Kings increased their field goal shooting efficiency to 44.7 per cent over four quarters. The Broncos bumped their success to 26.6 per cent.    

On Friday, October 25, the Kings (1-0) will host the SAIT Trojans (1-0) at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre at 8:00 p.m. Last season, the Trojans won ACAC gold.

"Our defence was not effective to the level that it needs to be to stop a power like SAIT. We have to touch up our rebounding. Our rebounding was again, not what it needs to be to stack up against a team like SAIT, which will be dominant on the boards," says Graham. 

"Our ball movement and off-ball movement on our offence needs to be more crisp. We can't turn over the ball like we did tonight. We have to have better ball control, better ball possession and if we can do all those things, hopefully we can come out with a W against SAIT."