The Kings have their home opener spoiled by the Lightning

Red Deer, October 21 - The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Basketball team had their home opener spoiled after dropping a 105-78 loss to the St. Mary's Lightning.

It was a high-scoring, fast paced first quarter between the Lightning and the Kings. St. Mary's put up 28 points with the Kings finishing off the first 10 minutes with 24. Caleb Jipp led the Lightning with 10 points and the Kings were led by their post Jose Mauro Barrozo Junior with 12 points.

Kings Head Coach Darren Graham would call his first time-out of the half just over three minutes into thequarter to go over the Kings game-plan once again after the Kings took their second foul of the second frame. For the next three minutes, it was a very defensive game with the Kings scoring eight and St. Mary's scoring nine. It was a close second quarter with Red Deer inching to take the lead. Third-year guard for the Lightning, Kevin Hammer would take an unsportsmanlike conduct foul leading to foul shots for the Kings where Kirklan Hall (Justice Studies) would capitalize on both. This would cut the Lightnings lead to seven. Red Deer guard Piece Szybunka would beat the buzzer with a three-pointer as the Kings head to the dressing room at half down by 1 with the Lightning leading 55-54.

Kings 4^th year guard Payton Baltzer led the Kings with 16 points with post Mauro just behind him with 14 points and seven rebounds. All-Conference guard Caleb Jipp had an impressive half with 18 points and Brock Dewsberry of the Lightning came in second with 10 points.

But after this close first half, it just went downhill for the Kings all-around the court in the second half. Red Deer was not moving the ball well and were not patient on offence to get those high-percentage shots. In the first half, the Kings shot 48 percent and in the second, they were around 20 percent. The Lightning played great defence in the third and fourth quarter. They were not giving the Kings many good shots to take. In addition to not playing well offensively, Red Deer got into foul trouble. This means they had a shortened bench in the second half and could not match-up with what St. Mary's had to offer.

The third quarter was close with the Kings only being down 78-69. But it was the fourth quarter where the Lightning took control and ran away with the game. St. Mary's was able to drop 27 points and contain the Kings offence to nine points in the last quarter. The final score had the Lightning coming away with a 105-78 win over the Kings.

Kings Head Coach Darren Graham says they will have to do better on the foul sheet if they want a chance at splitting the weekend with the Lightning.

"We got to keep Eduardo Crespo in the game. He fouled out and played less then five minutes. But we also have to do better with the basketball. We turned over the ball 33 times which is unacceptable."

Jipp was named the player of the game for the Lightning with 32 points and three steals. For the home team, Baltzer was awarded the honour with his all-around effort in his 32 minutes on the court. He finished with 18 points, four blocks and five assists.

These two teams will face-off again tomorrow at 8 pm in Calgary at the St. Mary's University campus.