Kodiak men’s basketball closes it out again
It was the equivalent of the bottom of the ninth for the Lethbridge College Kodiaks men's basketball team.
Luckily for them, they have ample support in the proverbial bullpen.
The Kodiaks — who earlier last week were given the top seed in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association rankings — posted a close 89-86 win over the Ambrose Lions in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.
The win came 24 hours after another close win, a 91-83 decision in Calgary that improves the Kodiaks to 13-0 on the season, eight points up on the second place SAIT Trojans (93).
On Saturday, the Lions took a brief one-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Kodiaks retook the lead.
The visitors kept up the pace and threatened to knock the Kodiaks into the loss column for the first time this year, but a little support and shut down performances kept Lethbridge's record unblemished.
"Our guys have been good at closing games all year," said Kodiaks head coach Ryan Heggie. "We've had different guys step up in situations. (Saturday) we got big baskets from Jaxon Davison and Steele Stef, who aren't our leading scorers and they came up with big plays when it counted. Chris Thomson had 14 points and 14 rebounds and had a really solid night. We had five players in double figures scoring. So we really spread the ball around."
Davison was one of those doubledigit performers with 12 points.
Brock Dewsbery narrowly missed the triple-double with 24 points and nine rebounds and eight assists, Chase Bohne drained 19 points and six assists and Orin Porter Jr. had 11 points, five assists and two steals.
Down the stretch, Stef came in and added six points.
“The guys were really excited about this weekend," said Heggie. “It was a good match up for us, similar teams and similar strategies. It really felt like a playoff atmosphere Friday at Ambrose and in Saturday in Lethbridge.
After a slow start last week in Medicine Hat handed the Kodiaks a costly loss to start the second semester, keeping the pedal down for 40 minutes was the focus heading into the weekend as Lethbridge jumped out to a 25-3 lead after the first quarter.
The Lions closed the gap a bit in the third quarter, outscoring the Kodiaks 23-18, but the hosts
returned to form in the fourth quarter to close out the win and the 2-0 weekend.
"Aside from the start of the third quarter, we really came out playing hard," said Kodiaks head coach Deanna Simpson. "We talked about last week in Medicine Hat (how) we really didn't start playing until the second half and we struggled to get back into it, a two-point game and that kind of stuff. This week we focused on playing every single minute of every game because it just makes it harder to guard."
After leading the Kodiaks in Friday's win, Kirsten Barwegen put up another 12 points Saturday.
Natalie Hoyt and Dezarae Jensen came off the bench and added 10 points each.
Barwegen and Jensen each grabbed six rebounds. Barwegen also had four assists and three steals. Skyler Riggin also had three steals.
The Kodiaks return to action with a pair of home games Friday and Saturday when the Red Deer Kings and Queens come to town.