Basketball takes 3 out of 4 over the weekend
The exhibition season seemed to go on for a lifetime before the first whistle blew to start the ACAC regular season for the Rustler basketball teams. In their home opener, the Rustlers hosted the Concordia Thunder on Friday, November 12, and then played the return engagement in Edmonton on Saturday.
The men's team started Friday's games by jumping to a large lead of 33-9 after the first quarter and went to the dressing room at the half with a 48-35. The teams played an even game in the second half and due to the lead the Rustler built in the first half they secured their first victory of the season 92-72. Artavis Holiday led the team with 23 points and 8 rebounds for the home team.
The women's team followed up the men with a strong first quarter as well and play a back and forth quarter going into the half leading the Thunder by a score of 47-37. Both teams came out of the half playing a back and forth quarter before the Rustlers dominated the fourth quarter and also earned their first win of the season 83-64. Tori Dugan lead all Rustler student-athletes with 28 points and was named player of the game for her efforts.
Saturday the Rustlers jumped on the bus and headed to Edmonton to play the return engagement. The men once again started the evening off in a high-scoring game but this day the Thunder outscored the Rustlers in the first quarter 31-21. This resulted in Rustlers playing catch up for the rest of the game. Coming out the half the Rustlers outscored the Thunder in the third quarter but could not score the extra point needed to tie the game and push it to overtime. The final score ended 107-106 for the Thunder. Jace Klinker played a stellar game for the Rustlers dropping 42 points. The loss evened the Rustlers record to 1 and 1 after the weekend of play.
The Rustlers women were looking for their second victory of the season heading into the Thunderdome. Lakeland outscored the Thunder in 3 of the 4 quarters of play on their way to a 75-57 victory. The Rustlers carried the momentum for the majority of the game with Bilge Topaloglu and Jaden Cook leading all Rustler scorers with 19 and 18 points respectively.
Next up for the Rustlers will be the Keyano Huskies who will be traveling to Lakeland to take on the Rustlers on their home court. Both the Rustlers and the Huskies men and women's teams have several veteran players which should mean that the games should be exciting for all those who attend.