Rattlers Take Pivotal 1st Game Against Kings

In an important game for both sides, the Red Deer Kings travelled south to Medicine Hat to face off with the Rattlers. With a steal on their first defensive possession and a quick 3 from Jaamel Slack, the Rattlers were able to jump out to a quick lead. Another 2 steals on D from the home side did not equate to any points as the Rattlers missed on their next trip down the floor. A slow start offensively for both sides lead to only 3 points coming in the first 2 minutes. As both teams placed a premium on D nothing was coming easy. Another minute ran off the clock and nobody had scored. Finally an inside bucket from both teams and the drought had ended. But still both teams struggled to score. Red Deer found success inside as the Rattlers continued to miss. As the Kings took a 3 point lead the Rattlers looked to get angry and started to execute on the offensive end. As the quarter went on the score was back and forth with neither team able to gain momentum or a firm grasp on the game. A Late 3 from the Kings gave them a late lead heading into the break. Only up 1, 21-20, the kings held on to a narrow margin.

The second quarter started with Red Deer making a basket on their first trip down the floor. As the Rattlers continued to fail to convert offensively the Kings extended their lead to 5. As the Rattlers again looked frustrated they started to chip away at the Kings lead. As the clock neared the midway point neither team had been able to put up a large amount of points. Red Deer took a timeout at the midway point, but it was the Home side able to capitalize coming out of the break. with the score all knotted at 36, both teams looked to find a way to break through. With 2:30 left both teams entered into bonus territory. Again with strong Defense, the Rattlers were able to start to develop a small lead. They took this 5 point lead into the break 45-40.

The third quarter opened with the Rattlers starting on a run. This allowed the Home side to increase their lead to 11. This was as big as it would get as the Kings heated up and started to close the gap. As play moved back and forth again teams fought for the momentum in the game. Both teams intensity ramped up as the fouls got harder and pace of play increased. The fouls in the game became increasingly one sided. As Medicine Hat tried to increase their lead they found themselves on the wrong side of 4 straight foul call and unable to produce points. This continued as the score stalled in the last 2 minutes and the Rattlers held a 73-60 lead, by no means out of reach.

The start of the fourth saw the Rattlers again able to score a basket early. this continued for the early part of the frame as the Rattlers were able to establish control. Once increasing their lead to 20, the Rattlers did not coast on this lead. Both teams pushed hard as both sides knew the importance of this one. Ad the clock just passed the halfway point, Red Deer's leading scorer Spencer Klassen Fouled out. With this, the Rattlers started to bring in their deeper bench and playing reserves. With this new squad on the court for the home side, the visiting Kings were able to make up a little bit of ground. Even with the bench playing for the second half of the quarter, Medicine Hat was still able to score pushing the score past the century mark. As the Rattlers took the match 103-76 and increased their playoff hopes.