Rattlers 3 ball carries them over Clippers

The Briercrest Clippers Headed into Medicine Hat for a Thursday night match against the Rattlers. The Clippers opened the scoring with a corner 3, after both teams came up empty on their first trip down the court. The Rattlers could not convert in the offensive end however and remained scoreless for their first 3 minutes. The Clippers extended their lead to 5 before the Rattlers could respond with 2 of their own. A Third quick Clippers basket saw the Rattlers bench looking to bring in subs. Briercrest was able to make another deep 3 and opened up a 10-2 lead. The Rattlers finally responded on the next trip down but remained down 6. The Rattlers knocked down a deep 3 after a Clippers turnover and cut the deficit to 3. A missed Clippers  free throw and a quick Rattlers drive down the court and they trailed by only 2. Able to force a miss and grab the board, the Rattlers hit a 3 and took their first lead of the game. Yet another 3 from the Rattlers and they took a 4 point cushion into the final 2 minutes of the quarter. The Rattlers started to heat up from deep with yet another 3. They continued to extend the lead, shutting the Clippers down the score at the break was 23-16 with the home side out front. 

The second quarter started much like the first ended. The Rattlers hit from 3 and were able to continue to shut down the Clippers offence. The first 2:45 breezed by with the Rattlers maintaining their lead, now 28-17. The game started to balance out as both sides failed to score on each of the next 3 trips down the court. The game slowed down with tons of whistles for ticky tack touches as the quarter passed the halfway point. The Rattlers still held their lead up 32-19 with 4:40 on the clock. The game continued to be dictated by the whistle as no fluidity of play was present. The Clippers reduced the Rattler lead on a set of free throws and a follow up 3 pointer. With the lead only 8 the Rattlers pushed but came up empty on the next trip down. Medicine Hat was continually trying to score in the paint but were coming up empty. The Clippers came back down and hit a 3 further cutting into the lead. Another trip to the charity stripe saw the clippers hit one of two and cut into the Rattler lead, now 4. The Rattlers were able to add one with a single made free throw and headed into the half up 5, 33-28

The Second half started with a miss from the Rattlers and the Clippers earning a trip to the line. Missing both, the score stayed static as the game got underway. Medicine Hat hit another early 3 extending the lead but on the next trip to their own end Medicine Hat committed another foul. This time making both, the Clippers had their first 2 of the half. The fouls mounted early, with the Rattlers with 4 team fouls under 3 minutes into the half. Now on high alert, the Clippers were able to chip away quickly with the Rattlers coming up empty in the offensive zone. Medicine Hat was able to come back and hit a deep 3 once again making it a 2 score game. A Clippers turnover gave the Rattlers another chance to extend their lead but a missed 3 opened the door for Briercrest. They as well were unable to capitalise as rushed low percentage shots whas the theme of the evening. A Missed breakaway layup from the Clippers drew jeers from the home crowd as the Rattlers used this momentum to hit another 3 on the other end growing their lead back to double digits, 42-32. The Rattlers continued to grow their momentum scoring the next 2 buckets and going up 14. The Clippers finally answered with a reverse layup but the Rattlers had extended their advantage. The teams both went cold shooting and the next points were scored with less than a minute on the clock. The quarter ended with the Rattlers in the lead 49-35. 

THe fourth quarter started with the Rattlers adding 2 quick point to their lead on an offensive rebound. The Clippers responded in turn with 2 quick 3's and an inside basket. Another Rattler miss and another quick Clipper bucket, the Rattlers saw their lead disappearing. Now only 51-45 the home side used a timeout in an attempt to right the ship. Able to come out of the break and score points right away, the Rattlers started to grab hold of some extra momentum scoring the next two trips down, the Rattlers went up 61-45 on the back of another Rattler 3. The Clippers finally responded with 4 minutes remaining with a 3 of their own, but the Rattlers continued to roll. Maintaining a 13 point cushion. The Clippers would not quit however, hitting key shots and slowly chipping away at the Rattler lead late. The Rattlers had other ideas hitting a timely 3 to keep the Clippers at arms reach. As the time ticked off the clock the Rattlers were able to hold on with the help of their defence finishing off the game up 68-55.