Smith leads Trojans to dominant victory over Kings
CALGARY, ALTA., (Nov. 9, 2018) — The SAIT Trojans men's basketball team showed they can have their cake, and eat it, too.
The Trojans shored up their defensive game, but also scored a ton in their dominant 113-86 victory over the Red Deer College Kings Friday night in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) action.
"We've said all along that when we have to take the ball out of our own net, it slows us down," said Trojans head coach Marty Birky. "But, if we can force bad shots and misses, we're pretty tough to stop in transition."
SAIT, who was ranked No. 1 in the country by the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) earlier in the week, moves to 5-0 on the season. Red Deer College falls to 3-2.
John Smith (4th year, Lacey, Wash., Business Administration) wasted little time in getting going on Friday. In the opening 10 minutes of play, the southpaw guard made good on a trio of three-pointers to score 11 points and get his team out to a 25-18 lead.
He finished with a game-high 29 despite not playing for the majority of the fourth quarter.
The second quarter is when SAIT really turned up the pressure, defensively. They forced four turnovers and held the Kings to just 33 per cent shooting to go into the break with a sizeable 54-34 edge.
The 20-point lead allowed Birky to show off his bench, and they returned the favor by playing well.
Kenton Linton (2nd year, Ottawa, Ont., Office Professional) scored 13 points, while teammate Rahsaan Chambers (1st year, Toronto, Ont., Office Professional) added 11 points, six rebounds and a number of great outlet passes that Birky praised afterwards.
"We're one of the deepest teams in the league, if not the country," Birky said. "Our practices are war. These guys coming off the bench are close, but they are not quite there, so when they get in we expect a lot from them. They definitely showed up today."
Ian Tevis (5th year, Kent, Wash., Office Professional) also had a solid game for the Trojans, recording 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Red Deer's Kurram Sultan scored a team-high 28 points in the losing effort.
The Trojans will play hosts again Saturday night as they welcome the Lethbridge College Kodiaks to the Campus Centre for an 8pm tip-off.
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