Lightning Fry Rattlers

The St. Mary's University Lightning headed south to face off with the Medicine Hat College Rattlers in the Snake Pit. With the Lightning still very much in the playoff hunt, the Rattlers hoped to play spoiler in the late season tilt. The Rattlers opened up the scoring with a quick bucket inside from Nick Murschell followed by both teams getting a defensive stop. The Lightning and Rattlers traded single free-throws and 2 minutes was gone off the clock. St. Mary's hit a 3 pointer to take a 4-3 lead, and followed it up with another 3. The Rattlers were able to respond but still trailed by 4 as the clock passed the halfway point. The Rattlers went on a run and came back to tie the game late in the quarter with the score knotted at 17. The Lightning went in to bonus early getting to the line and hitting both to re-take the lead late. They again extended with a late push and went up 24-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The Rattlers were able to score quickly in the second quarter but St. Mary's earned 2 quick trips to the line opening up a 28-21 lead. St. Mary's had gotten to the line early and often in the quarter and was able to open up a double digit lead going up 33-23. They extended again hitting back to back 3 pointers before the Rattlers could respond. St. Mary's was hitting from deep and were able to stay ahead hitting key daggers at opportune times. With 3:49 on the clock the Lightning led 45-32 taking a timeout. Both teams went cold for a stretch, with misses at both ends as the clock clicked down. The Rattlers heated up just a bit more than the Lightning and were able to slightly reduce their deficit. The Lightning hit a Buzzer beater 3 to bring the score to 50-40 the Rattlers trailing by 10.

The Lightning came out of halftime on fire hitting 3 shots early. The Rattlers finally responded but again St. Mary's was able to pull further ahead hitting from the line and making deep 3's. The Lightning were also dominating the offensive glass and coming up with second and third chance points. the Rattlers continued to battle but St. Mary's once again hit a 3 pointer just as the home side seemed to have grabbed any momentum. The Lightning led by 19, up 71-52 with 2:30 left in the quarter. They extended again and increased their lead to 20+ with the Rattlers going cold on the offensive end. The home side finally had a few fall near the end but still trailed big, 76-60.

The fourth quarter started with a few misses on both ends to start the quarter. The first points came off a Lightning trip to the line hitting 1 of 2. The Lightning continued to rain 3's and further extended their lead. they were hitting from beyond the arc at an incredible pace opening up a massive lead. 95-70 read the scoreboard with 5:45 remaining in the game. the Lightning hit 100 points with 4:34 on the clock, poised to put up a big night. The Rattlers could not overcome the deficit if the visitors continued to hit from beyond the arc as well as they had. The last few minutes ticked by with little consequence as the result was all but over. The Lightning cruised to a 106-84 victory