Thunder spoil Kodiaks night
A large partisan home crowd went away disappointed after the hometown Kodiaks fell 96-80 to the top-seeded north division team from Concordia.
March 1, 2018 - A raucous Val Matteotti Gymnasium at Lethbridge College provided a memorable setting for the final game of the first day of the Cora Breakfast and Lunch 2018 ACAC Championships. However, the partisan home crowd went away disappointed after the hometown Kodiaks (13-9) fell 96-80 to the top-seeded north division team from Concordia (20-5) as the Thunder made their way to the ACAC semifinals.
A back-and-forth first quarter saw the Kodiaks surge ahead as Pierce Van Gaalen (fifth year, General Studies, Foremost, Alta.) knocked down back-to-back three pointers, putting his team ahead 18-14 after ten minutes. But the Thunder flipped the script in the second quarter, taking the lead on the strength of an 8-0 run and a pair of three pointers by Darrelle Bacon Jr. (second year, Open Studies, Indianapolis, Ind.) That put Concordia ahead 43-35 at half.
The Kodiaks roared to life early in the third quarter, scoring eight straight points to get back within two and later closed the gap to just one with a Cory Richardson (fourth year, Business Administration, Bunbury, Australia) three. But that would be as close as the game would get for the rest of the night, as Concordia answered by outscoring the Kodiaks 17-4 throughout the rest of the frame to lead 68-54 after three quarters. In the fourth, the Thunder used a balanced team effort, as five players hit double-digit points, to maintain that spread and finish off the victory.
Brett Jakubec (fifth year, Open Studies, Viking, Alta.) led the Thunder with 21 points, while the Kodiaks Keanu Funa (second year, Business Administration, Lethbridge) had a game-high 23 points.
The Thunder move on to the ACAC semifinals where they will play the Lakeland Rustlers at 8 p.m. on Friday. The Kodiaks move into the consolation bracket and will face their arch-rivals from Medicine Hat College at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Players of the game: Lethbridge Kodiaks - #12 Colten Murray (15pts, 9reb)
Concordia Thunder - #5 Brett Jakubec (21pts, 9reb, 6ast)