Late come back for Briercrest; defeating the Kings
Caronport, SK- Saturday, November 30th saw the Briercrest Clippers men's basketball team taking on the Red Deer Kings in their third matchup of the season. Briercrest was 0-2 against Red Deer and entered the game looking for their first win over the Kings.
Although Briercrest struck first, Red Deer opened up the lead, quickly going up 11-2 on Briercrest and forcing head coach Shane Sowden to call a timeout. The Kings continued to batter the Clippers, finishing the quarter 24-16 despite Briercrest's Yogi Cheatham hitting a buzzer-beater half court three-pointer. The second quarter followed a similar pattern to the first, with the Kings slowly building a lead on the Clippers, forcing a Briercrest timeout at 36-26. By the end of the quarter Red Deer led by eleven points, up 46-35 on the Clippers, despite both teams scoring 22 points that quarter.
However, the Clippers were not done, hitting the court running for the third set and outscoring the Kings 36-20. Despite entering the quarter down by 11, Briercrest forced a Red Deer timeout at 54-52 after overcoming the deficit to take the lead. The end of the third quarter saw Briercrest with an eight-point lead, ending 74-66. By the fourth set the Clippers were fully in their rhythm, causing Red Deer's head coach Darren Graham to call timeouts down 80-69 and 93-78. The Clippers continued to build their momentum, outscoring the Kings in the fourth quarter 32-23 to win the game 106-89.
Making the presentation for Player of the Game was Briercrest men's basketball alumnus Dan Nelson. For the Kings, the player of the game was forward Rudy Soffo, who put up 5 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. For Briercrest, the player of the game was forward Nic Gregerson, who recorded 28 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. Gregersen commented on the game, "it felt good to bounce back on Red Deer. It was a great team win and I'm really proud of everybody."
The two teams will not face each other again in the regular season.