The Kings offense shows up against the Clippers
Red Deer, January 13, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Basketball team kicked off their 2023 calendar year with a battle against the Saskatchewan-based Briercrest College Clippers. The Kings are coming off their most impressive win of the season when they defeated the Lethbridge College Kodiaks way back in November of 2022 and sit in sixth place with a 4-6 record. For their opponent tonight, they are siting in eighth place with a 1-9 record.
It was an offensive start for the hometown Kings as halfway through the first quarter, they put up 19 points to the Clippers 10. But it was quite an aggressive start for both sides as they went into their foul bonuses. As the quarter went on, the Clippers defense improved along with their offense, forcing Kings Head Coach Darren Graham to call a timeout as the visitors were making it a tighter first 10 minutes as the game moved along. At the end of the quarter, it was an all-around effort from the Clippers and the Kings as multiple players reached the scoring sheet in this offensive first segment of the game that saw RDP with a 29-19 lead.
The Red Deer crowd got into the game a little more in the second quarter with some incredible players in the second quarter that boosted the Kings five players on the floor, which saw their lead expand to 19 points with six minutes left to play in the quarter. After this, the Clippers called a timeout to see if that would simmer the crowd a bit. At the end of the half, the Kings were leading the Clippers 56-43. It was another team effort in the second quarter with Eduardo Crespo (Academic Upgrading) leading his team with just 12 points. Clippers Riley Seaborn (Business Administration) finished off the half with 14 points and the team lead.
It was another offensive quarter for both sides, but it was the Kings that extended their lead further and would go into the last quarter up by 19. Seaborn of the Clippers had a bit of a slower quarter points-wise as his teammate Oroma Bongomin (Business Administration) creeped up behind him with 16 total points. For the Kings, both Cole Wicker and Payton Baltzer had an impressive third quarter, specifically Wicker who continues to dominate from beyond the arch as he went four for nine so far.
The Kings pushed to another level in the fourth quarter offensively as they hit triple-digits putting the Clippers into their rear view for the night and looked to do the same tomorrow when they battle in a rematch at 3 pm in Red Deer. The final score was 104-73 for the Kings.
The players of the game went to Riley Seaborn of the Clippers, who finished off his night with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and Cole Wicker (Bachelor of Education), who drained four three-pointers enroute to a 23 point night.