Omon Edobar (5) of Red Deer aims for the hoop while Brady MacKay (6) of NAIT defends.

Story by Houston Garinger
Photos by Desirae Hewitt-Anderson

The first game of the 2018 ACAC Men’s Basketball Championships kicked off with a meeting between the second-ranked NAIT Ooks in the north against the third ranked Red Deer Kings from the south.

The first quarter kicked off with both teams coming out strong and putting pressure on each other on the hard wood.

The second quarter saw the same thing with the Ooks taking control of the game and forcing Red Deer to make errors and turn the ball over. The Ooks were hitting their three’s and had great ball movement between the players. The Ooks defense stepped up as well in the first half having a big block to show for it.

NAIT Ooks players Ryan Delwo (4) and Jackson Jacob (10) defend their hoop against Red Deer College Kings

The second half was a more intense game between the two teams. Red Deer came out stronger challenging NAIT to keep up with them. NAIT was forced to pick up their game even more hitting back to back three’s in the third and also one big turnover that lead to a huge dunk, but Red Deer was not wanting to go away as they put on a late surge in the third with five minutes left making it a 75-70 score for NAIT at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter saw some similar plays with both teams knocking down three’s and Red Deer continuing to fight back against NAIT. The game got a little chippy in the fourth with a NAIT player getting injured late in the game. Red Deer never gave up and kept pressuring NAIT, but NAIT was just too much for them to handle as they won with a final of 106-99.

Red Deer’s next game is Friday at 1 p.m. NAIT plays Friday at 6 p.m.

For more game summaries, visit our tournament coverage here.