MBB | Kodiaks Light Up Lightning
Nov 4, 2017 – Bouncing back from a heartbreaking single-point defeat to SAIT the previous night, the Kodiaks men's basketball team successfully got back in the win column with an 86-79 victory over south division rival St. Mary's Lightning on Saturday evening.
In a game with multiple ebbs and flows, the Kodiaks had to fend off numerous Lightning rallies to preserve their third victory of the season. In a pattern that was observed three times over the course of the game, Lethbridge would jump out to a double digit lead only to see St. Mary's claw back to within five points.
In the end, the Kodiaks' balanced offensive attack and ability to get key defensive stops down the stretch helped them secure victory.
Four Kodiaks starters were in double digits for scoring, with Cole Crick leading the charge with 22 points. Keanu Funa dropped in 16 of his own with another strong performance, while Michael Clemons nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine assists. Pierce Van Gaalen had ten points and also chipped in six boards.
The Lightning almost completed a remarkable comeback, despite trailing by as much as 19 in the third quarter. St. Mary's efforts were aided by strong long distance shooting, as the team went 9-19 from beyond the arc. Jordan Britton drained 19 points with four threes for the Lightning, while Averie Armbrister led the team with 20 points.
Kodiaks head coach Ryan Heggie gave full credit to St. Mary's for making his side earn the two points.
"St. Mary's definitely wasn't as co-operative as we wanted them to be. Even though they haven't won a conference game yet in terms of record, they're a very tough opponent," said Heggie.
"They have good outside shooting and they spread the floor well. Their coach made good adjustments against our zone. We have a tough conference. There's just no nights off."
Despite some defensive struggles, the Kodiaks were able to limit the Lightning to just seven second-chance points on the night. With his team pressing in the fourth quarter, Heggie told his boys to just "go out and play."
"We weren't quite as good on defence as I felt we should have been, but hey, we're a work in progress too. One of our last timeouts I told the guys to just forget about the rotations, forget the system. Just go out and play with your instincts, stop your guy from scoring, and win a basketball game. And that's what they did."
Kodiaks fourth-year guard Michael Clemons said it was nice to bounce back after a disappointing defeat the night before.
"It was an up and down game. We had a good second quarter but we didn't play with the consistency that we wanted to," said Clemons, who ranks second in the ACAC with 33 assists.
"Coach Heggie did a good job making us forget about last night and mentally just moving forward. We knew we had a tough game against St. Mary's and it's good to get a win after a tough loss last night."
With the win the Kodiaks record improves to 3-1, while the Lightning fall to 0-3 in conference play.
Lethbridge will have next weekend to rest before traveling to Olds to face the Broncos on Nov. 17. Their final home game of 2017 will be on Nov. 25 when they take on Ambrose at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.
Players of the Game:
Lightning – #10 Cordell Minnifee
Kodiaks – #21 Cole Crick