CALGARY – The Montana Grizzlies used a fourth quarter surge to improve to a perfect 4-0 at the 2008 Battle of the Border, ending the weekend with a 76-69 victory over the host Calgary Dinos.
A tight game that featured one-, two-, and two-point Montana leads after the first three quarters, respectively, was blown open to as much as a 14-point differential in the fourth quarter as Calgary scored just two points in the first six minutes of the final frame.
After two solid efforts against a Division I opponent, however, Dinos coach Dan Vanhooren was impressed with his team's progression over the weekend.
“I'm thrilled with the weekend we just had,” Vanhooren said. “Yes, today we had a poor game shooting the ball, but our defensive play was solid and I think on the whole we have the pieces in place to be a better team than we were last year.
“I think we saw Henry Bekkering take a big step forward with his game today. He played defence for 40 minutes without taking any possessions off, and I think that was a part of his game that was missing last year.”
The Dinos struggled with perimeter shooting all afternoon, draining just one basket from three-point land on 16 attempts (6.3 per cent) while Montana went 8-for-22 – easily the difference in the ball game. Calgary all but abandoned the outside game in the second half, throwing up just five shots from behind the arc and concentrating instead on working the ball inside, which they did effectively. The Dinos drew 28 Montana fouls on the day and went to the line 33 times, compared to just 16 for the Grizzlies.
The Calgary offence struggled to find its rhythm early, especially after Ross Bekkering found himself in foul trouble early. He shot just 2-of-7 from the field, and most of his 12 points game late in the fourth quarter with the game essentially out of reach.
Much of the credit for Calgary's offensive struggles belonged to the tenacious Montana defence, who forced the Dinos to take tough shots and held them to just a 38.2 per cent field goal average. Junior forward Jack McGillis had a game-high five steals to go with his 13-point effort, while Jordan Hasquet and Brian Qvale controlled the glass with eight rebounds apiece as Montana again won the battle of the boards by a 34-23 margin.
Hasquet added 19 points, while Qvale matched McGillis' 13. Kyle Sharp added 11 points in just 14 minutes on the floor.
Sophomore Tyler Fidler played a strong game for the Dinos, leading the team with 19 points and six rebounds. Henry Bekkering and Robbie Sihota chipped in with 16 points apiece to go with Ross Bekkering's 12. Freshmen Dominyc Coward, with four points, and Andy Rochon, with two, rounded out the scoring for Calgary.
“At the end of the day, their bench was deeper than ours today, and that was the difference in the game,” said Vanhooren. “We were still rotating in three players at the point guard position, and it is still Sept. 1. Outside shooting wasn't a problem for us on Saturday night (an 82-72 Montana win), and it's just something we'll have to look at on a game-by-game basis. But on the whole, I'm very happy.”
Montana returns home to prepare for Big Sky Conference play in the NCAA Division I, while Calgary will return to five weeks of practice before seeing game action again. The Dinos open the defence of their Canada West Central Division title Nov. 7-8 when the Brandon Bobcats and Regina Cougars pay visits to the Jack Simpson Gym.
-UC-
