Lightning launch past Broncos in Olds

The third quarter turned the tide firmly in favour of the St. Mary's University Lightning as they defeated the Olds College Broncos 118-76 at the Ralph Klein Centre on Friday.

Pelumi Ajayi had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists for the Lightning (16-2), while Caleb Jipp also had 28 points with five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Johnpaul Okodua also posted a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds with four assists for St. Mary's, who shot 55.1 per cent from the field in the matchup.

Peter Adonri led the way for the Broncos (5-12) with 14 points and five rebounds, while Gurech Gurech added 12 points and five rebounds, and Logan Bennett posted 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

After St. Mary's jumped out to an early lead, the Broncos clawed back in the first quarter and played tight defense to open up a 20-16 lead through 10 minutes of play. However, the Lightning flipped the script in the second, swinging the matchup into a 29-26 lead within a three minute stretch, eventually taking a 49-44 lead into halftime.

The Lightning wasted no time asserting themselves in the second half thanks to a 12-0 run spanning 2:32 to go up 61-44 early in the third quarter, a lead they continued to stretch to 88-55 entering the fourth.

The Lightning and Broncos will play the back end of their weekend doubleheader in Calgary tomorrow at 8 p.m., and the matchup will be available to watch on ACACTV.ca, as well as on TELUS OptikTV channel 1998.

Players of the Game
STMU | Riley Follensbee
OLDS | Aidan Walsh