CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 19, 2018) — It wasn’t the kind of effort SAIT Trojans men’s basketball head coach Marty Birky wanted, but his team pulled out the win.
The Trojans waited until the second half to play the way their head coach expects them to in their 99-81 victory over the host St. Mary’s University Lightning in their Friday night Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) all-Calgary matchup.
“Honestly, we played like a team that thinks they’re the best and don’t have to try,” said Birky following the game. “We were lucky to be winning at halftime because we took terrible shots the first 20 minutes of play.”
SAIT moves to 3-0 on the season, while St. Mary’s falls to 1-2.
Despite a first half where the Lightning seemingly made every shot they took, the Trojans held a slim 51-50 lead going into halftime.
In the third, and after a spirited chat in the locker room, the Trojans came out firing and took control of the game thanks to a 30-11 run going into the fourth.
“Our defensive mindset is that we make teams do what we want, and tonight we let them do whatever they wanted and that’s why they shot so well,” Birky explained. “We just weren’t aggressive enough defensively to start, and we turned that around in the second half.”
Ian Tevis (5th year, Kent, Wash., Office Professional) led the Trojans with 25 points, while John Smith (4th year, Lacey, Wash., Business Administration) scored 19 points – 15 of which came in the second half.
Cordell Minnifee led the Lightning with 18 points.
The Trojans return to action on Friday, Nov. 2 when they host the Ambrose University Lions in their home opener at 8pm.
