Rattlers Earn Home Win over 1st place Trojans
The Medicine Hat Rattlers Hoped to have a better result than the previous at SAIT on the second half of the home and home. Medicine Hat came out with a fast two from Aaron Cameron, followed up with a basket straight away from SAIT. Medicine Hat's defense forced an early turnover and jumped on every rebound they could. This helped them out to an early lead in the game. Osato Obaseki was flying all over the court early making an impact on both ends of the floor. With 3 rebounds early and a steal, Osato needed a quick breather after running the floor for 3 straight minutes. This along with smart play from Jon Sappleton and some lights out play inside from Deangelo Ashely saw the Rattlers jump out to a huge 21-6 lead. The Rattlers Continued to feed the ball inside to Ashley who was dominating in the paint. As the quarter ticked down the Rattlers continued to hold a lead and play like they were behind. The effort from the Medicine Hat squat lead to a 17 point margin at the quarter, 27-10.
The second quarter started, and play stayed at a fast pace. Both teams were running the floor trying to take advantage of fast breaks and their own teams on court advantages. This was ill advised in some instances when the speed became too much for the teams to handle causing turnovers and sloppy play. The play slowed down and cleaned up as the Rattlers were becoming more deliberate in setting up their offense. SAIT seemed to mimic the play from Medicine Hat slowing down and speeding up when the Rattlers did. This started to frustrate the Rattlers who started taking more fouls and playing with more of an edge. The edge allowed them to stay out front despite a Trojans team who were finally making baskets narrowed the lead to 10, down 46-36 with the Rattlers still leading.
The Second Half opened with the Rattlers turning the ball over inside and SAIT coming back with a 3 from Murphy Beya followed by another 3 from Charlie Conner cut the lead to 4. Another Rattler turnover led to 2 more from SAIT pulling within 2. The Rattlers started to Run and started to play defense again, opening up a slim lead again. The Rattlers started to click offensively with the bench on the floor. Some smart passing and impressive inside play from Deangelo Ashley and Stephen Jones. The Josh Magpantay and Vince Munoz picked up the slack and helped the Rattlers Close out the Quarter up 11, 64-53.
Justin King opened up the Fourth Quarter with a 3 pointer for the Rattlers as they stretched the lead to 14. After teams traded baskets, the Trojans were forced into a timeout with the momentum swinging towards the Rattlers. Medicine Hat came out of the timeout on fire, scoring 3 straight baskets forcing SAIT to take their second of 3 timeouts in the first 2 and a half minutes of the quarter. The Rattlers lead by 20 with a basket From Jon Sappleton along with some solid play in the defensive zone. This lead was cut down by 7 with 3 straight baskets from the Trojans. Still up by 13 with 5:27 on the clock, Rich Humphries took a timeout for the Rattlers to stop the Sloppy play and energize his squad. This did not work well as the Rattlers continued to Hemorrhage points to the Trojans. Now only up by 10 with 3 minutes on the clock, The Rattlers got to the line and Stephen Jones improved the lead again to 12. A Kicked ball by SAIT that was not called lead to another basket from the Trojans closing the lead. The non call saw the Rattlers respond with strong play and intensity. The Trojans Knew they needed points and quick, the intentionally fouled and used a fast break to maximize their time left on the clock. Timeouts were burned through and with :59 left on the clock the Rattlers held a 9 point lead. Trojan Nicholas Molina came back with a Deep 3 followed by a missed free throw and another dagger, SAIT only trailed by 4. Osato Obaseki forced a turnover and Medicine Hat hit both free throws. Now up by 5 with 7 seconds on the Clock, The Rattlers ran out the clock winning 96-91.
SAIT player of the game was Gemie Muya-ntalaja who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Two Rattlers Finished with Double Doubles with Both Osato Obaseki and Jon Sappleton finishing with big games.