MBB | Murray leads Kodiaks past Lions
Feb. 10, 2018 – Colten Murray scored 28 points and led a huge second quarter charge as the Lethbridge College Kodiaks returned to winning ways with an 88-61 victory over the Ambrose Lions on Saturday night.
The Kodiaks rode a 31-point second quarter to their eighth win of the season, but had to fend off a feisty Lions squad who made multiple attempts to rally back into the game.
Determined not to repeat last night's slow start, Lethbridge raced out to a 10-2 lead to open the match, riding the hot scoring touch of Murray and Grady Taylor. The Lions roared back with a 10-2 run of their own late in the quarter, however, to cut the Lethbridge lead to 22-18 after one.
The Lions started the second strong and took a short-lived 27-26 lead, but the Kodiaks called time out and came alive the rest of the half. Lethbridge exploded offensively, draining five three-pointers in the span of seven minutes while going on a 26-9 run. In the end, the Kodiaks shot 67% from the field in the first half and enjoyed a 53-35 lead heading into the break.
Holding onto that lead turned out to be no walk in the park, however. The Kodiaks shooting went cold in the third and the Lions took advantage, trimming the Kodiaks lead to just eleven.
Lethbridge looked slightly tense to start the fourth but loosened up after a 9-2 run midway through the frame, aided by strong defensive pressure and offensive rebounding to seal the game.
Kodiaks head coach Ryan Heggie said being ready to play from the opening tip-off was key to his team bouncing back from Friday's disappointing defeat.
"The biggest thing about tonight was that we showed up to play basketball right from the tip-off. We didn't wait until half time to get started like we did last night," said Heggie. "No disrespect to Ambrose from last night, but we didn't give 'em our best punch on the road like we did tonight."
Heggie was pleased to see his team get in an offensive rhythm, and said it all starts back at the defensive end.
"Most of our offensive rhythm comes from our defensive pressure, because we do a lot of pressing and trapping, and we get some run outs and some flow. That's where we get a lot of buckets from," said Heggie. "If we move the ball around against the zone, everybody's going to get a look. When we struggled tonight, we weren't passing as much, like in the third quarter. When we're flowing we're moving the ball and getting looks off that.
Grady Taylor had 14 points and four rebounds, while Cory Richardson grabbed ten points off the bench. Sini Atoa also had a strong game in limited action with nine points and seven rebounds.
Carlos Bantaya led the Lions with 17 points while coming off the bench. Artez Scharer chipped in 12 points for Ambrose, who remains in the thick of the ACAC postseason hunt with a 10-8 record.
Ambrose will return home and prepare to host Red Deer next Friday night.
The Kodiaks improve to 8-8 and will now look to get over the .500 mark when they host the SAIT Trojans game in a makeup game Tuesday night. That game will have a delayed start, with tip-off set for 9 p.m. from the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.
Players of the Game:
Lions - #9 Carl Bantaya
Kodiaks- #12 Colten Murray