The Briercrest Clippers men’s basketball team had the closest of calls when it came to finding the win column against the Concordia Thunder on Friday night before falling just short.
So they just went out and got the job done once and for all a day later.
The Clippers outscored The Kings University 9-7 in overtime and would go on to an 85-83 victory for their first win of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference regular season on Saturday at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium in Caronport.
Matthew Bryant was the hero in overtime for the Clippers, draining the game-winning basket with six seconds remaining. He finished the game with 12 points as Briercrest used a balanced attack throughout the afternoon.
Moose Jaw products Riley Seaborn and Danny Mullens both had solid contests as well, with Mullens the Clippers’ player of the game after putting up 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Seaborn had another solid outing with 18 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Brolin Simes and Corbin Gengenbach also added 14 points each for Briercrest.
Against Concordia, the Clippers trailed 35-24 at half, but would rally to make things close before falling 80-74.
Seaborn was the Clippers player of the game and led Briercrest with 21 points and seven rebounds, Simes picked up 13 points.
The Clippers women’s basketball team remain at .500 on the season at 3-3 after also splitting their two games with Concordia and Kings.
Briercrest opened the weekend with a close 61-58 loss at the hands of Concordia despite trailing 38-29 at the half. The Clippers even had a chance to tie the game with seven seconds left, but couldn’t get the three-pointer to fall.
Amber Fichtner had a solid game for Briercrest with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Dori Sunderland had a 12-point outing.
Against Kings University, the news was much better, as the Clippers took a 46-30 lead out of the half and never looked back.
Brooklyn Martens put together a stellar showing for Briercrest, scoring 22 points and hauling in seven rebounds, while Maddison Beattie came off the bench to put up 17 points. Fichtner added 11 and Eve Duerksen 10 to the winning cause.
The nationally-ranked Clippers men’s volleyball team ended up splitting their weekend set in Edmonton, taking a 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22) win over Concordia on Friday before losing a heartbreaker 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 15-25, 15-8) to The Kings University on Saturday.
Karym Coleman put down 19 kills and had a pair of serve aces and three digs to lead the Clippers offence against Concordia. Libero Brady Watchel racked up 13 digs, while setter Jeremy Martens had 10 digs to go along with his 39 assists.
Against Kings, Coleman put down 20 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks; Jackson Anderson led the way defensively with eight digs.
The Clippers are now 4-2 on the season and sit in second place in the ACAC South Division.
The Briercrest women’s volleyball team found themselves with a similar result to the men, winning their opener 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-17) over Concordia before falling 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-23) to Kings on Friday and Saturday.
Faith Buhler had 15 kills, two aces and three digs to lead BC against Concordia, setter Jess Zacharias had 10 digs to go along with 29 assists. Peacock grad Summer Okerstrom had four kills, two digs and a block.
Julia Beer led the offence against Kings with 10 kills, while Buhler picked up seven kills and Okerstrom three.
The Clippers hold a 2-4 record and find themselves in fifth place in the South Division.
The men’s hockey team were unable to find the win column in Red Deer against the Kings, dropping a 6-3 decision on Friday and falling 5-3 on Saturday.
The Kings outscored Briercrest 2-1 in each period on their way to the first win. Brandon Kelly had a goal and an assist for the Clippers, Zachary Thususka and Joshua Wiens had their other goals.
Kolter Pawlick turned aside 39 shots in the Briercrest net.
Things were far closer a day later, as goals from Cole Stevenson and Colton Aikens saw Briercrest tied 2-2 through two periods. Red Deer took the lead 4:27 into the third, but less than two minutes later, Caleb Grandfield tied things up 3-3.
That would be the last good news on the day for BC, though, as the Kings scored a pair of power play goals late in the third to take the win.
Curtis Wiebe picked up a pair of assists for the Clippers, Dominik Tmej had a 27-save performance in net.
Briercrest is now 2-4 on the season and sit in fifth place in the seven-team league
All five Briercrest College teams are back in action this weekend.
The hockey team hosts the NAIT Ooks for a pair of games at Barkman Arena, 6 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday, while the volleyball teams host Northwestern Polytechnic Friday and NAIT Saturday, First serve for the women’s team for both games is 5 p.m., men’s games go at 8 p.m.
The basketball crews make the trip to northern Alberta to face Northwestern on Friday and NAIT on Saturday.
Be sure to check out www.acac.ab.ca for all the latest scores.
