BOX SCORE

CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos' shooting went cold early and warmed up too late as they fell 79-50 to the Wyoming Cowboys in the opening game of the 2012 Battle of the Border tournament Tuesday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Led by a 17-point performance from Larry Nance Jr., the Cowboys shot out to a 25-10 lead after the first quarter and used a stifling defensive effort to hold the Dinos below the half-century mark until there were just seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Luke Martinez chipped in with 16 points for the Cowboys as they begin their three-game, five-day swing through Calgary. The Mountain West Conference squad will play the newest members of Canada West, the Mount Royal Cougars, Wednesday night before the rematch against the Dinos Friday. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. in the Jack Simpson Gym.

For the Dinos, who at times had four freshmen on the floor, it was a night about learning and going up against one of the NCAA's top-ranked defences, and head coach Dan Vanhooren was impressed with his team's fight to the finish.

“We have a lot more toughness and heart than we've had in the past, and we're willing to do some dirty work and fight right to the end, even when it looked like we didn't have a hope,” said the 13-year head coach. “We got better defensively every quarter, which was a good sign, and obviously with some of the guys we lost we're not going to be the most offensive team at this time of the year.

The hyphenated backcourt tandem of Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson and Josh Owen-Thomas went a combined 2-for-16 from the field, with Ogungbemi-Jackson scoring all of his points in the final 12 minutes of the game as the Cowboys used their size advantage to make it difficult to score from the perimeter.

Youri Anissovets led the Dinos with a 14-point, nine-rebound effort, while Matt Letkeman chipped in 12 points for Calgary in his return from injury. It was the first chance for Dinos fans to see newcomers Clay Mulumba Mbayi, a big man to demonstrated some big range going two-for-five from three-point land, along with rookies Jasdeep Gill, Dallas Karch, and Mitch Ligertwood.

“We played all 12, and all of them contributed,” said Vanhooren. “With all the freshmen in our lineup, it was at times a glorified high school team on the floor against an NCAA team – and we're going to take our lumps. It's great experience for those guys, and we have lots to work with here – and a lot of time before we play again after this week.”

The Dinos hit the practice court again for three days before matching up with the Cowboys again Friday night in the Jack.

-UC-