Kings lead for most of match, fall in the fourth quarter in Kodiaks closest match of the season

Lethbridge, November 25 - Two Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) South Division rivals faced off against each other tonight in Lethbridge with the Lethbridge College Kodiaks battling it out with the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings. The Kodiaks coming into the game have been a force to be reckon with as they entered tonight undefeated with eight straight wings.

For the Kings, it has definitely been the opposite but have looked great as of late with three wins in their last five games. Even though the visiting Kings had the lead going for most of the game, the Kodiaks offense showed up with impressive numbers in the fourth to take the 91-88 victory.

It was a very fast start for the Kings basketball team as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead early on in the first quarter, forcing Kodiaks Head Coach Ryan Heggie to call a timeout to regroup his men. After the break, the Kodiaks would storm back on a run of their own to get back into the match, cutting the Kings lead down to one. At the end of the first quarter, it was the Kings would maintain a four-point lead over the Kodiaks which was led by two Academic Upgrading students, Bernardo Moller and Jose Mauro, who finished the quarter with six points each.

The Kings would start off the second quarter great with their biggest lead being 10 points, but the Kodiaks team was determined to come back as they cut into that lead and would only be down by just three. This is when Head Coach Darren Graham called a timeout for the team. The Kings would finish off the quarter with a 45-40 lead. Mauro completed the first 20 minutes with 12 points and nine rebounds, but Eduardo Crespo (Academic Upgrading) had a great second quarter with nine points.

Crespo would lead his team after doubling his first half points to an impressive 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists. But the Kodiaks would battle back to tie it at 62 in the quarter with guard Taylor Barfuss leading his team with 15 points. It was the home team who outscored the Kings 22-17 in the third quarter.

It all came down to the wire in this final 10 minutes of the game. The Kodiaks battled back from being down most of the game and would secure a victory after stopping the Kings from making a buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie it up which would have sent it to overtime. At the end of the game, it was Crespo who finished off with a team high 21 points. But Mauro also had an impressive night with a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

However, it was Bernardo Moller who was named the Kings player of the game with 14 points, five steals and four assists.

These two teams will face off tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm in Lethbridge in what should be another great matchup.