CALGARY – The fans in the Jack Simpson Gym were witness to a real Dutch treat as the brother combination of Ross and Henry Bekkering combined for 55 points to lead the sixth-ranked Calgary Dinos to a 91-85 victory over the Alberta Golden Bears in Game 1 of the Central Division Final.
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Calgary leads the best-of-three series 1-0 and will look to close out their archrivals Saturday night, with tip-off for Game 2 at 7 p.m. MT.
In particular, Ross Bekkering, the fourth year younger brother, was simply magnificent. In just 26 minutes of work he went 12-for-14 from the field and 5-of-8 from the line for 29 points, along with 13 rebounds – seven of which came off the offensive glass. After leading the conference in field goal percentage during the regular season, Bekkering the younger shot a whopping 86 per cent in his first game of the post-season.
Older brother Henry, playing in the final home games of his varsity career, put up 26 points to nicely complement the offensive output of his brother.
The Dinos needed every one of those 55 points in their six-point win over a Bears squad that had already beaten their southern rivals twice this season and would not go away despite several double-digit disadvantages.
“Our defence needs to be a little more consistent, but I was pretty happy with the way we limited our turnovers tonight,” said Calgary coach Dan Vanhooren, who has his team within one win of a second straight trip to the Canada West Final Four. “We handled pressure well, and executed pretty well on offence, and defensively when we did what we were supposed to do, it worked.
“We need to stay on course and stay with the game plan. At times we got a little too creative tonight, but Ross and Henry had huge games for us and when those guys are going with the support of Tyler Fidler and Robbie Sihota, we're pretty tough to beat.”
After Alberta took an early 25-23 lead following the first quarter, a dunk by Ross knotted it up at 31-31 early in the second. That sparked an 8-1 run for the Dinos, and they never trailed from that point. Calgary took a 41-36 lead into the half.
The lead stretched as high as 10 on several occasions, but the Dinos were unable to extend their advantage any further as the Bears continued to chip away.
“Our defence just has to stay more consistent so that when our offence is faltering we can maintain where we are,” said Vanhooren. “They did keep making it close, but then we'd go up 10 again and eight here and nine there, and it takes a lot of energy for teams to keep coming back like that.”
The one point where the Calgary offence did falter nearly gave the Bears back their lead early in the fourth quarter. Scott Leigh hit a jumper in the opening minute to cut the lead to just three for Calgary, and Neb Aleksic brought the visitors within one at 60-59. Fidler responded for the Dinos with a clutch trey and it was soon back up to a seven-point lead for the Dinos at 68-61.
The Bears, however, were not done. Four free throws and a rainmaker from Leigh later, the Bears had tied it up at 68-68. Again the Dinos had an answer, and a big three-ball by Dustin Reding put Calgary back in front with a comfortable margin for the remainder of the evening.
Physical play, a trademark of playoff basketball, made its appearance in the second half after a relatively calm first 20 minutes. The Dinos went to the line 27 times in the second half compared to just two in the first, and the 32 fouls called in the second half more than doubled the first half's 15.
Fidler and Sihota complemented the Calgary offence with 12 points each, while Reding knocked down two rainbow threes in his seven minutes of action.
Aleksic had 25 to lead the way for the Golden Bears, with Justin VanLoo chipping in 19 and Leigh 11.
With the Dinos up one game to none, the situation becomes do-or-die for Alberta the rest of the way, with 26-year head coach Don Horwood's career winding down – and Vanhooren knows a team on the ropes can be dangerous.
“Their lives are on the line now and they'll play hard for Coach,” he said. “He's on the ropes too right now, and it's going to be a heck of a battle tomorrow.”
Tip-off goes 7 p.m. in the Jack.
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