The Kings upset the Kodiaks for their first loss of the season, biggest win of the season
Lethbridge, November 26 – After falling in a nailbiter last night, in game of the doubleheader, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings were looking to finish off this afternoon with a win against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks and go into the Christmas break on a high note. The Kings led for most of the game but in the last few minutes of the third and the fourth quarter, the Kodiaks could not be stopped which led to a 91-88 victory. RDP was given a last-minute opportunity to score a three-point to send it into overtime but failed to do capitalize.
It was a slow start for both teams as a total of 10 points were scored, five for both sides, in the first half of the quarter. But then the offence was sparked, specifically for the Kodiaks as they went on an 15-5 run to open up the scoring late in the first quarter. But the Kings stormed back to take a 21-20 lead into the second quarter. Forward Eduardo Crespo (Academic Upgrading) finished off the quarter one-for-one from three-point range and had seven points at the end of the first ten minutes.
Before the Kodiaks called a timeout, the Kings started it out by shutting out Lethbridge College and would score eight points in the first four minutes of the second quarter. The Kodiaks finally ended the shut out in the fifth minute with back-to-back two-pointers. RDP extended their lead to 15 by outscoring their opponent 18-4 in the second quarter and led the Kodiaks 39-24. At the end of the half, guard Bernardo Moller (Academic Upgrading) and Crespo both had the team high in points with eleven.
Halfway through the quarter, the Kodiaks would get back into the game with a 13-4 run, cutting the Kings lead to six at the five-minute mark. But Red Deer would go on a run coming of out their own timeout to extend their lead to thirteen. At the end of the quarter, Crespo was leading his team with 16 points, but Moller was right behind him with 14 with the team leading 52-44.
It was a close fourth quarter with Kodiaks slightly outscoring the Kings 22-21 but that was not enough for them to stay undefeated as they would fall 75-64. Lethbridge College came into this match number one in the south with a 9-0 record. But the Kings would be the first team to defeat them in their final game of the first half of the season.
The Kings player of the game went to forward Dennis Enns (Open Studies) who finished off the game with eight points and nine rebounds. But it was Crespo who led his team in points with 25.
Unfortunately, after this impressive win, the Kings will not have another match until January 13th when they take on the Briercrest College Clippers on their home court in Red Deer.