Kodiaks carry momentum into final weekend
As host of this year’s Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship, the Lethbridge College Kodiaks berth in the provincial tournament is set.
However, as the Kodiaks ran their winning streak to four games with a 94-58 win over the St. Mary’s Lightning Saturday night at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium, they’re making it clear they want to earn their spot in the ACAC championship.
With the win — their third in the past week — the Kodiaks improve to 11-8 and take over sole possession of the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division.
That puts them two points up on the Ambrose Lions (1010) and Olds Broncos (10-9) and two points behind the Red Deer Kings (12-7) heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
“Unofficially, we can move up to third before next week,” said Kodiaks head coach Ryan Heggie. “Throughout the year I felt we could make a run and get going together. We had a few guys join us at Christmas, so even though those guys have been with the program before, it still takes time to blend everybody in together. We’re starting to click right now. Our defence has been holding teams in the 60s and 70s for the last four or five games. We’re creating a lot of offence from our defensive pressure and our zone press.”
Saturday night was the final home game of the regular season. As such, the Kodiaks graduating players were given a grand sendoff even if there’s still more basketball to be played when the team hosts provincials March 1-3.
“We started the grads,” said Heggie. “Colten Murray had 16 points, so he had a good grad night. Cole Crick and Pierce (Van Gaalen) were solid. It was a good night to send those guys off, unofficially. Grad night is before the playoffs, so we have more work to do. So all the fans and supporters will get to see them play one more home tournament before we push hard to try and qualify for nationals.
“It was a nice night for them. Pearce and Colten have combined for nine years. So there was some emotion flowing from the coach (Saturday) night. Cole, who joined us this year, had some close ties with Tyson Pushor and Robert Miles III, who help us coach. It was a good night.”
In addition to Murray’s 16point outing Saturday, Sini Atoa had 15 points.
Michael Clemons, Cory Richardson and Keanu Funa each had seven rebounds and Richardson added six steals.
Clemons added 12 more assists to his season total to lead the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association with 9.8 per game. He is also in a seven-way tie for third nationally in steals, averaging 2.7 per game.
Last Tuesday, the Kodiaks defeated the SAIT Trojans 8573 after their Feb. 3 game in Lethbridge was postponed due to snow.
On Feb. 1, the Kodiaks downed the Trojans 90-77 in Calgary. The Trojans (15-5) are tied with the Medicine Hat Rattlers (10-5) for first in the South heading into the final weekend.
“It was nice beating SAIT,” said Heggie. “We played them up there (Feb. 1) and we had some momentum. Then we had the snowed-out game. It was kind of like ‘What do we do on a Saturday night? We’re ready to play.’ We had to wait until the next Tuesday and the guys played a really strong game against SAIT. They’re a very athletic, talented team and a very scary team on any given night. They can put it on you. But we battled hard and got the W off of them.”
The Kodiaks wind down the regular season on the road this weekend as they head to Saskatchewan to take on the 019 Briercrest Clippers.
“We want to continue to get in the same type of rhythm,” said Heggie. “We’re not going to rest guys just for the sake of resting them for the next week. A smart coach told me once ‘Don’t rest your guys before playoffs unless they’re injured because they’re in a groove every weekend, anyway. So don’t take them out of their groove.’ They won’t play the high minutes that they would normally play, but we’ll treat it like another weekend where we need to get two wins and keep improving.”
Heggie said he hopes to get injured second-year guards Daniel Lybbert and Tom Johnson into the lineup this weekend.
“They’re two important pieces, so we’d like to get them back,” he said. “There’s no guarantee they’ll be back. So we’ll have to wait and see this week.”