Rattlers men’s basketball team earn bronze
The Medicine Hat College Rattlers men’s basketball team made the most of a tough situation Saturday at the Snake Pit.
While the ultimate goal of reaching the national championship eluded their grasp with Friday’s semifinal loss to the Lethbridge Kodiaks, the Rattlers regrouped and closed out the season on a high with a 96-82 bronze medal victory over the Red Deer Kings.
“It was very upsetting last night but a lot of people supported me, a lot of people told me beautiful things to keep it up and look to the big picture — everything I’ve done and all these guys have done for the program, the college and the city. We accomplished a lot,” said graduating Rattlers forward Gui Fuck, who closed out his final game as a Rattler with 21 points. “Today was all about fun, and for me this was one of the best games I’ve ever felt about playing because I had fun. I’m very emotional right now, but it was great.”
Rattlers guard Michael Farion added it was a very difficult turnaround after having their dreams dashed Friday night. But the fifthyear veteran says they owed to their school, their fans and most importantly themselves to end the year with their heads held high.
“Honestly, this wasn’t the game I wanted to be in. It took some time to get myself motivated. I dealt with it last night. It was kind of a depressing night but knowing this was my last game on our home floor I had to give it my all,” said Farion. “For plenty of us, it’s our last game. It’s the last time we’re going to play on this court in these jerseys so we wanted to go out with the W.
“Just to play our last game in front of a home crowd in my fifth year, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Rattlers head coach Rich Humphrey says there was no sugar-coating the devastation felt by his team after Friday’s loss to Lethbridge. But, he added the mental strength it took to turn around and play one of their strongest games of the year is a testament to their character as young men and as a team. “Before the game I just talked about being a man and the adversity you’ll come across. I didn’t give them a pump-up speech. I just gave them facts. This is a tough game to play in and just compete,” said Humphrey. “It speaks to the resolve of these guys, it really does.” The Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference championship hosts wasted no time taking over control of the game in front of a packed home crowd — running up an early 28-14 lead while making the most of Red Deer’s mistakes in a lopsided first quarter.
While several Rattler passes went through the hands of their intended targets in the first, the defence did enough to limit the damage and keep the Kings at bay.
Red Deer tightened up in the second quarter, with Ian Tevis helping to push his Kings back into the conversation by besting Medicine Hat 27-23 in the frame.
Tevis finished the first half with a team-high nine points and four assists, but the Rattlers maintained the edge thanks to a dominant performance on the boards and an evenly spread point distribution.
“I love playing Medicine Hat. Every time I play them I tell their coach I wish we could play them every weekend. My team always seems to show up to play Medicine Hat,” said Tevis. “I think everybody wanted us to be playing in (the championship), Medicine Hat vs. Red Deer, but it’s kind of ironic we still played them on Saturday.”
Salissou Abdoul Kader led Medicine Hat with seven rebounds in the first half while his teammates combined for 18 more to outboard the Kings 25-16. Farion had a game-high 12 points in the half for Medicine Hat, while Pietro de Andrade and Jordan Wynter both followed up with nine.
The evenly paced action continued into the second half, though the Kings never truly managed to gather enough steam to offset their first-quarter stumble. While Red Deer did narrow the gap to five points to open the fourth, the Rattlers dug in their heels regained control of the action before Fuck drove in a dagger with a deep three to expand the gap back to 12.
Fuck closed out the game with 21 points while Farion added 19. Abdoul Kader and de Andrade both completed double-doubles in the fourth. Abdoul Kader closed out his Rattler season with 16 points and 12 rebounds while de Andrade followed up with 11 points and 11 boards.
Red Deer’s Tevis finished the loss with a game-high 22 points.
The Cinderella SAIT Trojans ended up taking home ACAC gold after Saturday’s 85-65 championship victory over the Lethbridge Kodiaks.
John Smith was nearly unstoppable for the Trojans, posting a staggering 40 points in the victory. Lethbridge’s Chris Maughan did all he could for the Kodiaks from the bench, finishing with a team-high 21, but it simply wasn’t enough.
SAIT and Lethbridge will represent the ACAC at the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association championship at Holland College in Prince Edward Island, March 14-18.
“It speaks to the resolve of these guys, it really does.” – Rattlers men’s basketball coach Rich Humphrey on his team’s ability to bounce back with a bronze medal victory after a devastating Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference semifinal loss.