Klassen (21), White (6) & the Kings will kick off competition on Thurs.

By RDC Athletics

Seeking Provincial Title

Kings basketball squad off to ACAC Championship

Mar 4, 2020 | 7:48 AM

The RDC Kings (10-11) made it to the ACAC Men’s Basketball Championship with some dramatic flair.

They managed to seal their own playoff fate on Friday with a thrilling 78-77 road victory over the St. Mary’s University Lightning, a team that was also battling for the fourth spot in the south. A crucial game-winning three-pointer from Cody White made the result of Saturday’s Lightning win inconsequential to the postseason picture.

Over three conference games, the RDC Kings won the season series two to one over St. Mary’s (10-11), who finished with an identical record.

“It’s exciting to get into that fourth and final spot in the south. There were two other teams competing tooth and nail right until the end for that fourth spot, Briercrest and St. Mary’s,” said Kings Head Coach Darren Graham. “We were fortunate enough to get in, just because of the tie-breaker.”

Briercrest College (9-12) finished with 18 points in the standings, two behind both RDC and St. Mary’s.

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The fourth place seeding pits the RDC Kings against a first place squad, who won 22 games and only dropped two.

“Our match-up in the north is Keyano. We had a double-header against them at the beginning of the semester,” said Graham. “They are a very good team. They have six really good players and have been ranked nationally for the majority of the year.”

In January exhibition action, the Keyano College Huskies took both contests against the Kings (102-82 and 100-69). Now the slate is clean heading into the postseason against the fifth nationally ranked team from Fort McMurray.

“They are going to give us a tough task. They have a big guy in the middle,” explained Graham. “He’s going to be a big load for us.”

Huskies forward Noah Simpson is listed at six-foot-eight. He averaged 15 points, 9.5 rebounds and a field-goal efficiency of 56.4 per cent.

“They have good shooters and definitely some athletic players that can run the floor well,” said Graham.

Stefan Jovcic led the Huskies with 16.3 points per game. After Simpson (15), Angelo Mbituyimana is next with 13.6. Dejon Davis and Jo Michel averaged 13 points each.

Kings all-time scoring leader Spencer Klassen sparked the Kings offensively throughout the regular season with 21.6 points per game. Tyronn King wasn’t far behind (18.8). Ramiro Martinez Quintanilla Jimenez ranked third on the team (9.9). Six-foot-four Kevin Szymanek averaged 8.7 points and was a force all-season in the paint.

The Kings and Huskies will meet on Thursday, March 5 at 3:00 pm in Camrose. Graham wants to focus on a few areas of his team’s game before traveling on Wednesday.

“In terms of preparation, we have two days of practice, Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “We will work hard to fine tune that ball movement in terms of our offensive play, making sure we get high percentage shots, and that we’re efficient with our possessions on offence. I trust that our guys will bring the right defensive effort against Keyano.”

The time of the Kings’ second game will be determined by Thursday’s result.

The championship schedule and results can be followed online.