CIS men's basketball Saturday roundup: Fortified Dufort paces Redmen to stunning win over undefeated Stingers

Streaky shooting down the stretch didn’t help the Cape Breton University Capers men’s basketball team as they fell to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 90-88 in AUS men’s basketball action Saturday in Sydney.

The Capers, who fell to 8-6 on the season, shot 55 per cent from the field in the first half enroute to a 48-45 lead, but managed just 39 per cent in the second half as the Varsity Reds rallied for the win.

Jimmy Dorsey missed a triple-double by two rebounds, finishing with 22 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds in a losing cause.

Eastside Mario’s Player of the Game Al Alilovic also had 22 points for the Capers while Julian Smith and Meshack Lufile finished with12 and 10 points respectively.

William McFee had 23 points to lead the Varsity Reds offence.

Daniel Quirion had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Michael Fosu and Jordan Irvine 11 points apiece for UNB.

CBU will return to action on February 11 when they host the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers and on February 12 when they meet the Acadia Axemen.

Source: Cape Breton Sports Info

The Guelph Gryphons men’s basketball team lost a nail biter, 71-67 to the Badgers this afternoon (Jan. 28) in Guelph.
 
The loss drops the Gryphons to 8-8 while the win advances the Badgers to 9-7.
 
The Badgers got out to an early lead with a 10-point run and maintained that lead for most of the game with a tremendous defencive effort.
 
Adam Bering (Windsor, ON) put the Gryphons on the scoreboard capitalizing on a free-throw opportunity. Chasing the lead, the Gryphons managed to beat the Badger defence and drive to the basket, closing the gap 19-12.  The team made the most of their free-throw opportunities and went 5-7 in the first quarter.
 
The Badgers continued to dominate the Gryphons on the court. Dan McCarthy (Guelph, ON) and Zachary Angus (Burlington, ON) drained several big three-pointers to chip away slowly at the Badgers lead. 
 
Kareem Malcolm’s fast breaks helped to get the Gryphons within 10 points of the lead at 40-31. The Gryphons shooting average improved in the second half of the game, while Bering powered his way though the Badger defence to advance the Gryphons score, but the Badgers would continue to respond.
 
McCarthy set the tone for the fourth quarter, nailing a three-pointer at the shot clock. His hot shooting took the game to 61-55, and electrified the large home crowd.
 
The Badgers called a time out after the Gryphons came within six points of the lead. The Gryphons were building momentum and finding their way into the Badger zone to put game changing points up on the scoreboard. McCarthy sunk another three-pointer to make it a four-point game and stellar rebounding from Sheriff Wiredu (Ghana) put the Gryphs within two at, 66-64.
 
With the home crowd behind them, the men looked to take the lead for the first time in the game with 3:25 left in the fourth quarter, after coming back from a 10- point deficit.
 
The Gryphons needed to make every shot count if there was any chance they were going to clinch the win. Malcolm hit a huge three pointer to be within one, with merely 1:47 left in the game. The Gryphons gave up the ball on their final attempt to secure the lead allowing the Badgers to extend their lead, and would eventually squeak out a 71-67 win over the Gryphons.
 
McCarthy put up 20 points tonight to lead the Gryphons in scoring, followed by Bering with 15 and Malcolm with 13.
 
Didi Mukendi (St.Catharines, ON) scored 19 to lead the scoring for the Badgers, followed by Andrew Kraus (Markham, ON) with 17 and Andrew Ferguson (St.Catharines, ON) with 13.
 
The Gryphons will match up against the Mustangs on Wednesday, February 1 at 8:00 p.m. in the W.F. Mitchell Centre in Guelph.

Source: Guelph Sports Info

The Waterloo Warriors hosted McMaster Marauders in OUA action on Saturday afternoon and lost 89-70. Waterloo now has a 4-12 record in league play and has an uphill struggle to make a playoff spot.

Most of the first half was a very tight game, with the only significant edge being a seven point lead by Waterloo midway through the second quarter. Waterloo led by three at half time, 34-31.

To start the second half McMaster had an 11-3 run keyed by three from long range. That gave the visitors a lead they would not give up again. After only two three-pointers in the first half, McMaster found the range in the second, hitting for 9 of 20 in the half, all at the right time to stop any Waterloo momentum.

For the game McMaster out-shot Waterloo 44% to 38% and out-rebounded the Warriors 43-31. Waterloo only made it to the free throw line for 8 attempts while McMaster took 21 free throws.

Mike Wright (Burlington/Assumption) led the Warriors with 26 points, while Andrew Melbourne (Scarborough/Mother Teresa) used his second start in a row to score 16 points, tying a career best. Cam McIntyre (Kitchener/Kitchener C.I.) was on the sidelines for a second straight game.

McMaster spread out their scoring, with five players hitting for double figures. Victor Raso led the way with 18 points and Nathan Pelech added 15 points.

McMaster improved their record to 11-5 and sit in fourth place in the OUA West. Waterloo is in last place with their 4-12 record, with six games remaining.

Next games for Waterloo are a double-header matchup against the CIS No.2 Lakehead Thunderwolves in Thunder Bay. Games will be played both Friday and Saturday evening.

Source: Waterloo Sports Info

WATERLOO, Ont. - Maxwell Allin of Chatham, Ont., had 23 points while Patrick Donnelly of Oakville, Ont., had a double-double as the No. 6 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (14-2) defeated the Western Mustangs (5-11) 89-73 on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Hawks sweep the season series with the Mustangs for the first time in six seasons. Laurier also set a new team record in the victory as they earned the 14th conference win of the season, a new team high.

Unlike last weekend's meeting with the Mustangs, the purple and gold came out flying in this game, jumping out to a 15 point lead after the opening quarter. Both teams would trade baskets in the second quarter as Laurier took a 42-26 lead at the half.

The Hawks would stretch that lead to 25 after three quarters but ran into foul trouble in the fourth, allowing the Mustangs to pull within 11 with two and a half minutes remaining. However, the Hawks would regain their composure and close out the game thanks to a couple key free throws from rookie Aiddian Walters of Vaughan, Ont.

For the third time in four games, Allin cracked the 20 point barrier for the Hawks, finishing with a team-high 23. He also added nine assists and nine rebounds as he fell just shy of a triple-double.

As for Donnelly, he finished the game with a season-best 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds.

Western's Ryan Barbeau of Belleville, Ont., led all scorers in the game with 28 points.

"Max is tough and he makes shots," said Head Coach Peter Campbell of his leading scorer. "He is a key element in any success that we have."

"Patrick, today, he came out and made his first couple of shots and that always helps him," continued Campbell. "I thought he played inside better today than he has in a lot of occasions."

The Hawks will now head back out on the road where they will take on the Windsor Lancers on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.

Source: Laurier Sports Info

Head  Coach Tim Kendrick and the UPEI Panthers continued winning Saturday night at the Chi-Wan Sports Centre, 95-77 over the Memorial Seahawks.

The Panthers and Seahawks battled for the first 30 minutes, with over 12 lead changes.  End of the third quarter UPEI lead by only three points, 69-66. The fourth quarter was all UPEI, outscoring MUN 26-11 and winning 95-77.

UPEI’s Donnie Moss scored 26 followed by Manock Lual adding 22 points and 10 rebounds. Memorial ‘s Jason Shepherd was the game high scorer netting 29 points along with Mike Helsby’s  17 points and 12 rebounds.  The two teams face off Sunday at 3 pm.

Source: UPEI Sports Info

he Windsor Lancers Men's Basketball team dropped their second straight decision to the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday night as they fell 85-79 at the St. Denis Centre.

With the loss, the Lancers fall to 11-5 in conference play with six games remaining in the regular season schedule.

Saturday night's game was part of Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the St. Denis Centre as the Lancers raised awareness and funds for breast cancer research.

Despite another close game against the division leading Thunderwolves, the Lancers struggled to contain guard Ben Johnson who finished with 29 points, including 9 of 12 from three-point range.

Lien Phillip led the Lancer scoring attack with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Evan Matthews added 16 points and 6 rebounds while Enrico Diloreto finished with 13 points and 4 assists.

On Saturday night, Lakehead led 20-19 after one quarter of play and extended their lead to five after twenty minutes, 44-39. The story in the first was Lakehead's outside shooting which saw them convert 8 of 17 from long range.

The Lancers tried to battle back in the second half as forward Lien Phillip and Evan Matthews battled hard inside for points. Windsor took a 46-45 lead before Lakehead went on a 12-0 run to lead 60-47 near the end of the quarter.

In the fourth, the Lancers were able to narrow the gap to 74-69 with five minutes remaining before the Thunderwolves once again extended their lead. Ben Johnson connected on three consecutive three-pointers late in the fourth which helped Lakehead seal the 85-79 win.

Windsor outrebounded Lakehead 49-35 in the game but shot just 7 of 22 from three-point range compared to Lakehead's 16 of 32 from deep.

The Lancers will now get ready for another big game on Wednesday night as they'll host the Laurier Golden Hawks at the St. Denis Centre on February 1st. Tip-off is set for 8pm.

Source: Windsor Sports Info

TORONTO- The Ryerson Rams men's basketball team survived an ugly first half of shooting, coming back from an eight-point deficit at halftime and holding off a late surge by Queen's to defeat the Gaels 73-68 on Saturday night at Kerr Hall Gym.

BOXSCORE

Jordon Gauthier tallied 17 points to lead the Rams, while Luke Staniscia added 15 points and five rebounds in the victory for Ryerson. Nicola Misljencevic dropped a game-high 21 points and shot 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in a losing cause for the Gaels.

"Every year you have one of those nights where you're just dead," said Head Coach Roy Rana. "The gym was dead and it seemed that nobody wanted to play. Those are dangerous games to play. We weren't very good tonight (and) credit to Queen's; they played well and shot the ball really well tonight."

"We shot the ball absolutely horribly in the first half, one of our worst shooting performances of the year," said the third-year bench-boss. "We found a way to make plays down the stretch in the second half. Gavin Berry was big off the bench and gave us a spark that we needed."

The rookie out of Waterloo, Ont. hit two important threes to begin the fourth quarter.

The victory moves Ryerson (9-8) into third-place in the OUA East division, two points up on Laurentian (8-9). Queen's (0-16) continue to look for their first win of the year after back-to-back losses by single digits.

The Rams shot just 20% in the opening quarter, but still managed to hold a 13-11 lead over Queen's after ten minutes of play. The men went 6-of-6 on their free throws, while the Gaels didn't make it to the foul-line once in the first.

Jahmal Jones (Mississauga) sank a three to keep Ryerson in front as Queen's looked to be surging early in the second. Nicola Misljencevic also hit a shot from beyond the arc, as the Gaels pulled to a point behind the Rams. James Asefa then put Queen's in front midway through the second on a lay-in after penetration down the middle of the key.

The Rams went cold in the middle part of the period, and the Gaels went up by four. Afeworki Gebrekerestos' (Ottawa) basket snapped a four-minute cold streak for the Rams. Misljencevic extended the visitors' lead to five on a lay-in, and then dropped a corner three to push it up to seven just moments later.

After shooting just 21% from the field in the first two quarters, the men went into halftime facing a 33-25 deficit to Queen's, who shot 48% as a team.

Looking for some energy in the third quarter, the Rams were lifted from four straight-points by Gauthier. After the Rams forced a turnover, Staniscia connected on a lay-up, and Gauthier (Windsor, Ont.) hit another basket to pull the lead down to two.

Bernard Burgesson hit a three to spread the lead to seven, but the Rams maintained the pressure, and a three-point play from Aaron Best (Scarborough, Ont.) was followed up by Staniscia (Pefferlaw, Ont.) who picked up the bucket plus the harm while notching the contest in a 40-40 tie. His free throw gave Ryerson its first lead of the second half.

However, a long-ranger form Mackenzie Simpson put the Gaels back up by four. After Jones hit a jumper to pull the game even, Ryan Golden sunk a three, and Queen's took a 50-49 lead into the fourth quarter.

Berry quickly put the home team ahead in the fourth with consecutive three-pointers, and a lay-up by Jones added to the small Rams lead.

Ryerson went up 61-55 after jumpers from Staniscia and Gauthier, but Golden kept the Gaels close with five-straight points.

Staniscia spread the lead to four coming out of a Ryerson timeout and Gauthier made it a six-point advantage with an important three-point play. However, Misljencevic came up with another big three-pointer to make it a one possession contest with 2:00 to play.

But Best responded with a baseline run ending with a massive dunk that gave the men a bit more breathing room. Queen's would not go away, as Misljencevic brought them within two from the foul line.

However, the Gaels' Burgesson was called for a travel with 19.7 seconds left in regulation. The Rams nearly turned over the ball after the inbounds pass, and Jones was put on the line, making one of two free throws to put the Rams up by three with 12.4 seconds on the clock.

Golden got a shot off from the deep corner, but could not get it to go, and the Rams would come away with the win.

"(Now) we're going to have to get ready for U of T next weekend, and we'll have to be a hell of a lot better than we were tonight," said Rana.

The Rams will host Toronto next Friday, and conclude their home games at Kerr Hall against York and Laurentian the following weekend before travelling to Ottawa to round out the regular season.

Source: Ryerson Sports Info

It wasn’t the prettiest of affairs, but it was a win all the same for the Gee-Gees who downed York in a 92-61 win at Montpetit Hall. With tonight’s win, the Gee-Gees have reached their 11-game win marker that they ended their season at last year, but with five games still remaining this season.

The opening minutes of the first quarter were messy on all fronts, with the Gee-Gees scraping together a five point lead after 10 minutes. First-year forward Vikas Gill (Ottawa, Ont.) opened the second quarter with a pair of threes to set the Gee-Gee offense up for a 12-point run.

Second-year forward Chris Anderson (Ottawa, Ont.) had a nice throw-down on a steal from second-year forward Gabriel Gonthier-Dubue (Gatineau, Qué.) to open the third. Second-year guard Johnny Berhandemeskel (Ottawa, Ont.) ended the quarter with back-to-back treys.

Early in the fourth, York’s David Tyndale drained a deep three, but rookie point guard Mike L’Africain (Oakville, Ont.) was quick to respond with one of his own. Berhanemeskel downed two threes within seconds of each other again midway through the fourth, zapping the energy out of an already depleted York offence.

Gill and Berhanemeskel dominated from the perimeter for the Garnet and Grey tonight, each contributing five three-pointers and leading the charge on the Gee-Gees' 55% three-point field goal percentage. Berhanemeskel finished with 27 points on the game, Gill 18 points while Gonthier-Dubue added 12 points and nine boards.

“Our defensive energy was night and day different from yesterday; we came out physical with a bit more of a chip on our shoulders,” said head coach James Derouin on the difference in his team’s play from last night’s loss to tonight. “The crowd could feel the energy difference tonight. I would cheer for our team tonight; I wouldn’t cheer for the team that played yesterday.”

“It’s difficult sometimes, you get relaxed, think that you’re comfortable,” said Derouin, “We don’t play well when we’re comfortable. We can’t relax without Warren; we have to play hard the whole game.”

“Our effort is what’s going to make us, especially without Warren,” echoed Berhanemeskel, “That energy, every minute matters.”

The Gee-Gees will need that full energy and effort as they rematch against the rival Ravens next Friday night, February 3, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. at Carleton for their only game of the weekend.

Source: Ottawa Sports Info

The No. 1 nationally ranked Carleton University Ravens men’s basketball team stretched their perfect record to 17-0 with a lop-sided 109-74 win at home over the Laurentian University Voyageurs, handing them their first loss in six games.

After escaping the opening frame with a slim six-point lead, the Ravens took control in the second as they established a 6-0 run and forced Voyageurs head coach Shawn Swords to take a timeout.

But it wouldn’t stop the Ravens offence, as the 6-0 run quickly grew to 11. Willy Manigat (Ottawa) led the squad with 16 points in the first half to secure a 54-33 lead heading into the break.

The Ravens play from beyond-the-arc was the difference in the half, as they shot over 70 per cent. Their cycle along the perimeter was too quick for the Voyageurs to track, and loading up players in the key created open looks from three-point land.

Carleton stretched the lead to 28 points by the end of the third, relying on strong pushes to the basket that resulted in multiple free throw chances.

The final frame saw more of the same, as Carleton surpassed the century mark for the third time this season.

Manigat led all Ravens with 22 points, fifteen of which came from threes, while Tyson Hinz (Ottawa) notched 11 assists.

Laurentian’s Alex Ratte (Ottawa) scored a game-high 32 points.

The Ravens return to action Friday, Feb. 3 when they host their cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. Game time is 8 p.m.

Source: Carleton Sports Info

The Varsity Blues men’s basketball team notched their second win in as many days with a dominant 110-43 win over the RMC Paladins on Saturday, January 28 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

12 different Varsity Blues got on the score sheet as the Blues improve to 7-10 and remain in fifth place in the OUA standings.

Veteran guards Justin Holmes (Toronto) and Arun Kumar (Hamilton, Ont.) tallied a team-high 16 points, each knocking down four three’s on the night.  Dylan Churchill recorded a season-high 14 points, with Adam Plummer, Alex Hill and Denis Ankrah adding 10, 11, and 12 points in the win.

The Blues dominated the entire game and exploded for 31 and 30 points in the third and fourth quarters to top 100 points for the first time since Jan. 21, 2011.

RMC’s Connor Duke recorded a game-high 19 points, while Alexandre Lavictoire added 12 points in the loss.

The Varsity Blues return to the court next Friday, February 3 as they head across town to take on the Ryerson Rams. Tip off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Source: Toronto Sports Info

MONTREAL - Freshman Vincent Dufort scored a career-high 16 points as McGill upset No.8-ranked Concordia 73-67 in a men's university basketball thriller before 462 at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.

It marked the first regular-season loss for the Stingers, who fell to 8-1 and snapped their three-game win streak over McGill, dating back to a 67-65 Redmen conquest on Jan. 21, 2011. The cross-town rivals have evenly split the last eight confrontations

Dufort, who contributed six rebounds and a pair of blocks, shot 5-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. He also went 3-for-4 from the line.

McGill, which improved to 6-4, led 16-12 after the opening quarter, led 32-26 at the half and 51-47 after three quarters.

The Stingers took early leads of 2-0 and 4-3 but never led again the rest of the way. McGill went up by as much as 10 but the Stingers whittled away and eventually found themselves trailing 69-67 with 22 seconds remaining.

They then intentionally fouled McGill's Tristan Renaud-Tremblay with 18 seconds remaining but the McGill junior, who missed numerous foul shots in a last-minute loss at Concordia a week earlier. This time, however, Renaud-Tremblay nailed both shots, then was fouled again and made both shots once more to close out the scoring. He finished with 10 points, including a 6-for-7 performance from the line, and was credited with four rebounds.

Also in double figures for the Redmen was Karim Sy-Morissette with 10 points. Team captain Winn Clark added nine points and pulled-down a game-high eight boards.

Three Stingers reached double figures, including Decee Krah (17), Kyle Desmarais (7) and Jerome Blake (12).

Concordia will host Laval (3-6) on Feb. 3, while McGill travels to Bishop's (1-8) the same day

Source: McGill Sports Info

Fifth-year forward Michael Lieffers led the No. 5 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies with a double-double in a 89-70 win over the Brandon University Bobcats Saturday night at the PAC in Saskatoon.

Lieffers hit 10-of-12 field goals for 23 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds. With the rebounds, Lieffers passed the 1,000 mark. He becomes just the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 overall points and boards.

Saskatchewan also had scoring from fifth-year guard Duncan Jones who added 21 points, as well as guards Jamelle Barrett and Peter Lomuro at 16 a piece. Barrett also recorded 13 assists.

Ali Mounir was the best on the court for the Bobcats tallying a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds. Kyle Vince chipped in 15 points and Donovan Gale added another 14.

With the win the Huskies move to 11-4 on the season and extend their winning streak to five straight games. The Huskies, who have five games left in the schedule, remain in a fight for top spot in the Canada West Prairie Division men’s basketball standings with the Alberta Golden Bears. Brandon falls to 5-11 on the season.

After Saskatchewan opened the game on a 5-0 run, the Bobcats found their legs to pull in front of the Huskies at 18-12. Vince led the Bobcats to the 22-15 lead at the end of the first quarter with nine points in the frame.

Saskatchewan started to answer the Bobcats scoring in the second quarter and opened with five straight points. A Barrett three-point shot from the top of the arc tied the game at 30. After that point both teams had trouble hitting the net in the rest of the quarter and finished the half tied at 37.

Trading the lead three times in the first few minutes of the third quarter, Saskatchewan took the lead after a Lieffers dunk to go ahead 46-45. Brandon kept within a few points but the Huskies were able to stay ahead and led 63-59 by the end of the third.

The lead grew for the Huskies to start the fourth quarter by 13 at 73-60, forcing Brandon to take a timeout. But Saskatchewan continued to pour the ball in the net, outscoring the Bobcats by 16 in the frame to seal the victory.

Saskatchewan shot 51% in the game, while Brandon shot 39%. The Huskies also out rebounded Brandon 44-37.

The Huskies hit the road to face the University of Winnipeg Wesmen next weekend, while Brandon returns home to host the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info

The University of Regina's men's basketball team erased a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit en route to a 79-72 win over the Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars did most of their damage with a 12-1 run over a three and a half minute span in the fourth, with a Brendan Hebert triple giving Regina its first lead since midway through the second quarter. A three-pointer by Travis Krahn brought Winnipeg back to within two with just under four minutes left, but the Cougars replied with a Sterling Nostedt bomb from downtown and led by at least five for the rest of the game.

The win improves Regina's Canada West record to 5-10 as the Cougars pull to within 2½ games of a Prairie Division playoff berth.

Hebert led the way for the Cougars, as the second-year guard ended up with a team-high 19 points. Gradyn Childerhose had 14 points, while Sterling Nostedt and Paul Gareau both scored 13 and Connor Burns had 10 points and 10 rebounds to notch his second double-double in as many nights.

Mark McNee led all scorers with 21 points for Winnipeg (4-12) and fell one rebound short of a double-double. Four other Wesmen players hit double figures in scoring, including Dominique Brown (13 points), Travis Krahn (11), Benny Iko (11), and Andrew Cunningham (10). Iko also led all players with 12 rebounds, while Cunningham added a game-high five steals and dished out four assists.

Winnipeg hosts Saskatchewan next weekend, while the Cougars will take a crack at No. 7-ranked Alberta next Friday and Saturday at the CKHS.

Source: Regina Sports Info

CALGARY – After edging their archrivals by a single point Friday, the University of Calgary Dinos wanted nothing of the sort 24 hours later, pulling out the brooms on the No. 7 Alberta Golden Bears with a 79-64 win Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

The win improves Calgary's record to 6-10 and brings the Dinos' total of wins over Top 10-ranked teams to four, while the Bears drop to 10-6 on the season.

Calgary's win coupled with Manitoba's loss in Lethbridge puts the Dinos just two games behind the Bisons (8-8) in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in Canada West's Prairie division. The Bisons just happen to be the Dinos' next opponent, with that series set for Thursday-Friday, Feb. 2-3 at the IGAC in Winnipeg, and a sweep by the Dinos would all but clinch a post-season berth.

It was an inspired effort by point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson that paced the Dinos to victory on this night. The sophomore Winnipegger shot 10-15 from the field and put up 25 points in 35 minutes as Calgary opened up a nine-point lead after one and did not trail once in the game.

“It's just great to have him back,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren of his point guard, who missed six games with a hand injury earlier in the season. “He's a great player, and having him back has dropped our turnovers down significantly.

“One of the reasons we've been having problems is because we've been losing the rebounding, and finally this weekend we won that battle. At the very least we're competing on the glass, because if you give up O-glass, you typically give up a really good shot. That has helped us, and our perimeter defence is better with Jarred in the lineup.”

Tyler Fidler added 12 points and nine rebounds, passing Robbie Sihota and Ian Minnifee to become the No. 4 all-time leading scorer in University of Calgary men's basketball history. Now with 1,450 points, he trails three Dinos legends on the leaderboard: John Riad (1.686), Karl Tilleman (2,050), and Richard Bohne (2,171).

Boris Bakovic had a quieter night for Calgary, scoring eight and adding seven rebounds. There were plenty of crazy eights on the scoresheet for the Dinos with Keenan Milburn, Josh Owen-Thomas, and Andrew McGuinness joining Bakovic with that point total.

Alberta countered with a 16-point night from Robert Dewar, with 10 of those points coming in the opening half. Daniel Ferguson had 13 after scoring 24 Friday night, while Jordan Baker added 11 to follow up his own 24-point night on Friday.

Matthew Cardoza was Alberta's leading rebounder with eight on the night in just 23 minutes' work. The Golden Bears were much more effective down low with 20 points in the paint after just six in Friday's game, but their perimeter scoring wasn't as sharp with both Ferguson and Baker shooting in the 35 per cent range.

The Bears hit just a trio of treys on the night in 22 opportunities, while Calgary hit seven of its 20 attempts beyond the arc.

The Golden Bears head on the road again next week as they head east to face the Regina Cougars before returning home to take on the Brandon Bobcats. Calgary, meanwhile, continues the playoff chase in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Bisons next weekend, with their final home series set for Feb. 10-11 when the Winnipeg Wesmen roll into the Jack.

Source: Calgary Sports Info

LETHBRIDGE – Down 21 points in the second quarter, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team engineered a roughly 30 point swing to eek out a 95-87 win over the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons Saturday night, boosting them to third spot in the Prairie Division with a record of 9-7.

As usual, the ‘Horns offence balanced on contributions from many of its members, and also, as usual, Airdrie product, Dominyc Coward came up with a double-double, his seventh of the season. Coward led the ‘Horns with 19 points and 12 boards and was mirrored by fellow post, Derek Waldner, who orchestrated a double-double of his own with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Point guard Daryl Cooper dropped 18 and Morgan Duce added another 17.

The Bisons responded with similar numbers: Kurtis Sansregret scored 18, while Kevin Oliver and Yigit Ozsayiner chipped in 17 apiece. Oliver notched his fifth double-double of the year, also pulling down 11 boards.

The Bisons came out of the gates with an obvious intention to avenge Friday night’s loss, shooting a scorching 5-5 from three and 12-16 from the floor en route to a 17-33 advantage after the first frame. The beginning of the second didn’t look much more promising for the ‘Horns, but, down 25-46 with three minutes left to play in the half, a lob to Coward for a lay-in and a kick out by Dallon Martin to Duce for three contributed to a 13-0 ‘Horns run to close out the first half, sending the teams to the locker rooms with a 38-46 differential on the scoreboard.

The ‘Horns continued to chip away at the Bison lead in the third quarter, bringing the score to within one at 52-53, but the Bisons maintained control of the lead and increased it back to six. Showing the confidence and resilience that would be their signature of the match, the ‘Horns whittled their deficit to one with two minutes to play in the stanza when a Niko Kovac jumper gave the ‘Horns their first lead of the game. The Bisons answered, however, with a pair of Xavier Smith free throws to regain the advantage, but the ‘Horns found a way to sway the tenuously hovering momentum back in their favor when Terrence Blake knocked down a huge trey off of a kick-out from Alex Fletcher with 17 seconds left to play in the quarter to put the ‘Horns up 67-65 at the break.

The fourth quarter saw the ‘Horns continue to steadily outscore the Bisons as they had since midway through the second, a couple of key baskets coming from LCI-grad Julian Spearchief-Morris who knocked down a three and a long two inside two minutes to withstand a potential Bison comeback and seal an eight point win.

“We just settled down and played our game,” said Coward. “We knew we were a better team, we just needed to do the things that we know how to do. A lot of it was just bringing energy to the floor and talking on defense and one we got some momentum, the game kind of took care of itself.”

The ‘Horns will try to pack some of that momentum with them to Brandon next weekend as they meet the 5-11 Bobcats on their home turf. The game will tip off at 8 pm and will be webcast on canadawest.tv.

Source: Lethbridge Sports Info

VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds were the better team from start to finish, but it was a dominant third quarter that really set the tone for their 78-48 win on Saturday over the UBC Okanagan Heat at War Memorial Gym.

The 'Birds got off to a slow start, trailing 15-14 late in the first before pulling ahead to take a two-point lead into the second quarter. Head coach Kevin Hanson played his bench early and often on Saturday, and the reserves seemed to be hitting their stride with a quick run early in the second quarter that put UBC on top 26-15. But after the Heat came charging back to tie the game at 26, the starters went back in, and it was all T-Birds from that point on.

UBC held the Heat off the scoreboard for the last five minutes of the second quarter, and carried that momentum into the third, where they outscored the visitors 25-8 to put the game away.

"I really wanted to see if I could get our young guys a lot of minutes tonight playing together, and they made a nice little run there at the start of the second quarter but then they all got tired," Hanson said. "Some of them haven't logged as many minutes in the last few games so fatigue hit us and we got sloppy and started to turn it over, and they made a run back at us, and then we put some of our key older guys back in and held them for the last five minutes of the second without a field goal."

The minutes were evenly distributed across the T-Bird roster, with only four players seeing at least 20 minutes of court time. Doug Plumb led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Kamar Burke added 15 points and seven boards.

The bench scored 24 points, led by Mike Lewandowski, who netted nine to go with seven rebounds in 12 efficient minutes of action.

"The crew of seniors that will be graduating have logged a lot of minutes so it was certainly nice for the first time in a long time to be able to put Nathan Yu on the bench for the full fourth quarter," Hanson said. "The young guys are going to have to shine and I really liked some of the things I saw. They need court time and they need time together, but what you saw the last six minutes of that game is the future of UBC basketball so I'm happy with what they showed."

Mack Roth was the only Heat player to score in double digits with 15 points on the night. Ed Dane Medi grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

The T-Birds were again extremely effective defending top Heat scorer Yassine Ghomari. He was held to seven points and hit just four of his 22 field goal attempts over the weekend series.

The one blemish for the T-Birds was, as it has often been this season, their turnover total. They gave the ball away 20 times on Saturday.

"It's who we are. We're turning the ball over, and there's nothing you can do about some of these turnovers. They are totally inexplainable," Hanson said. "We throw the ball straight out of bounds sometimes and I can't even get mad anymore because it's just happening. We try to address it but I've decided I'm not going to get any more grey hair over it because it's who we are, and we just have to get better stops. If we're going to be giving them 10 extra possessions a game we better be defensively 10 points better than them."

UBC Okanagan falls to 2-12 with the loss.

The T-Birds are up to 12-2 and still hold a one-game edge over Victoria for first in the Pacific Division. Next up for UBC is a pair of games in Abbotsford against UFV, and they finish the season with a home-and-home against Victoria that will determine who finishes on top in the division standings.

Source: UBC Sports Info