King and Benjamin power Red Deer Polytechnic over Olds College

Brent Forster - Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

Red Deer, AB – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings' ability to score from both the inside and outside was too much for the Olds College Broncos Friday evening. 

The Kings capitalized on a 36 point performance from guard Tyronn King and 21 points from six-foot-seven forward Antonio Benjamin, defeating the visitors 87-79. 

The Olds College Broncos were in an offensive groove early, going up 10-4 on the strength of three-pointers from Austin Nzige Nyambok and Adrian Deere. Red Deer Polytechnic started to clamp down in its own zone and got its offence in gear, going on a 20-8 run to pull ahead 24-18 at the end of the first quarter. 

"Olds started out shooting hot," said Darren Graham, Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Basketball Head Coach. "Then our defence settled in." 

The Kings limited the Broncos to 11 points in the second quarter and they led 42-29 at the half. Adrian Deere powered the Olds College offence with six points.

"The first half we played excellent defence and gave up only 29 points," said Graham. "Twelve of those were hot points, within the first four or five minutes."

Tyronn King led RDP with 14 points over 20 minutes, but the Kings' play around the basket was also effective. 

"We moved the ball really well. We got the ball inside. Antonio had his best game of the year. He was really efficient from inside," said Graham. "They have two bigs down low, so we played two bigs at a time - Brett [Hochhausen] and Antonio. That was a really good matchup defensively and I thought we actually came out on the high side of that offensively."

Antonio Benjamin, a Business Administration General student, had nine points at the break. 

The Broncos began the third quarter on 20-7 run, evening the game 49-49. Mobin Ali hit a pair of three's during that stretch. After 30 minutes, Red Deer Polytechnic held a three point lead (61-58).

"In terms of the second half, we didn't come out with enough intensity, enough emotion. We didn't play good defence," said Graham. "They tied it up within five minutes where we gave up our 13 point lead."

The Kings outscored the Broncos 26-21 in the final 10 minutes and wrapped up the home win.

"Led by Ty and his 36 points, the guys defended the game enough to win and ultimately we made baskets down the stretch. Antonio was clutch and Eduardo," said Graham. "We shot really well from the free-throw line - 27 of 36. I was happy with a lot of things. We gave up 50 in the second half, so our defence could have been better." 

Tyronn King led Red Deer Polytechnic with 36 points. Eduardo Crespo scored four of his 10 points in the fourth quarter. 

For Olds College, Adrian Deere had 15 points and Austin Nzige-Nyambok chipped in with 14. 

Arlington's Antonio Benjamin was selected the North Star Sports Kings Player of the Game, totaling 21 points and four rebounds over 16 minutes.

"It's really important to have that good performance from Antonio, especially for a guy like Ty because now you have a secondary scoring option. Not only that, but we are working inside out, so we have an inside presence and an outside scoring presence," said Graham. "It takes pressure off both where they can feed off of each other. I think you saw that in the first half when Ty was attacking the rim, he'd dump it off to Antonio and he was pretty solid with his finishes tonight." 

Mobin Ali received the North Star Sports Player of the Game award for the Broncos. Ali contributed 20 points, five rebounds and one assist over 31 minutes.

The Broncos hit 44.4 per cent of their field goal attempts. The Kings connected on 38.6 per cent of their shots from the field. 

On Saturday, November 20, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings (2-1) will face the Broncos (0-3) on the road at 6 pm.

"We got the same team tomorrow night," said Graham. "It's a very good team, very much improved, so we have our work cut out for us."