Men's Basketball Weekend Recap | October 23, 2017
The Rustlers Men's Basketball travelled to Grande Prairie on the weekend to face the Wolves. The two teams would split the weekend series, with the Rustlers winning Friday night, and the Wolves coming out with the win on Saturday afternoon.
The Rustlers defeated the Wolves 75-71 Friday night in a game that was close for all four quarters. Both teams started slow, trading turnovers before the Rustlers opened the scoring on a free throw by second year guard Adrian Richards. The teams would go back and forth for the first quarter, with the Rustlers taking a 15-13 lead into the second. The Rustlers struggled to start the second quarter turning the ball over and committing fouls, allowing the Wolves to tie the game at 15. The Rustlers would build leads of 5 and 6 points in the quarter, but the Wolves fought back, and the Rustlers led 34-33 at the half.
The second half started with both teams turning the ball over, committing fouls and missing shots. The Rustlers hit two three's midway through the third quarter, pushing their lead to 9 and forcing the Wolves to call a timeout. The Rustlers would push their lead to as many as 11, before ending the third quarter with a 57-49 lead. The Rustlers couldn't pull away from the Wolves in the fourth, as the Wolves made a late push to bring the game within three before the Rustlers hung on to win.
The Rustlers were led by fourth year forward Prentice Gardner with 18 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. Gardner was also named Player of the Game.
Rustlers also got 14 points, and eight rebounds from third year guard Ricardo Joseph, 14 points and six assists from fourth year point guard Terrell Murdaugh coming in off the bench and 9 points, nine rebounds and two steals from fourth year forward Artavis Holiday.
Saturday afternoon, the Wolves defeated the Rustlers 87-82. The Rustlers started off slow, taking over three minutes to get on the scoreboard. Once the Rustlers got on the scoreboard, they would go on to outscore the Wolves in the quarter and lead 23-14 after one quarter. The second quarter would belong to the Wolves, as the Rustlers would rely on three-pointers that weren't falling. The Wolves would put up 36 points in the quarter, doubling the Rustlers who would find themselves down 50-41 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Rustlers were down as many as 15 on numerous occasions before they outscored the Wolves 12-6 in the final two minutes to cut the lead to 74-65 after three. The Rustlers fought back in the fourth quarter, cutting the Wolves lead to 6 with two minutes left, forcing the Wolves to call a timeout. The Rustlers ran out of time as the Wolves hung on to win the game.
Leading the Rustlers were Gardner and Holiday who each had 17 points. Gardner added six rebounds, two assists, and a steal while Holiday added eight rebounds, two steals, an assist, and a block. Murdaugh came in off the bench to score 15 points and dish out six assists for the Rustlers.
Player of the Game for the Rustlers was Ricardo Joseph.
Rustlers Head Coach Sheray Thomas emphasized the importance of playing four quarters following Saturday's loss.
"We lost one quarter," Thomas said, "we went from being up nine after the first quarter to down nine at half which hurt us. We have to work on getting to the free throw line and shoot twos instead of relying on threes."
The Rustlers (3-1) return to the court Friday night when they play host to the NAIT Ooks (2-2) at 8:00 PM. The Rustlers will then travel to Edmonton on Saturday to play the same Ooks team.