CALGARY – For the second straight season, the University of Calgary Dinos are Canada West's Central Division champions after an 82-78 victory over the Alberta Golden Bears Saturday. Calgary wins the best-of-three series 2-0 and heads to the Canada West Final Four next weekend on the West Coast.
BOX SCORE
Following Friday night's series-opening win, Calgary came out flying and opened up a 15-point lead after the first quarter – a lead they maintained throughout the night, despite a scare in the fourth quarter from a resurgent Alberta squad.
After combining for just 47 points in the first three quarters, the Bears exploded in the fourth to put up 31 points and cut Calgary's comfortable lead to just two with five seconds to play.
“We couldn't make a stop, what else can I say?” said Calgary head coach Dan Vanhooren of his team's defensive effort in the final 10 minutes. “We tried to make a stop, but every time they would hit a shot, it didn't matter. The good thing was that when we HAD to get a stop, we actually got one.”
In the final game of his CIS career, Alberta forward Justin VanLoo wasn't about to go quietly. He sat for much of the night with foul trouble and had six points to go with four fouls in the first three quarters – but in the fourth he turned it up, putting up 13 points, including a long three to bring the Bears within two, and finished the night with 19. In addition to VanLoo, guard Neb Aleksic and head coach Don Horwood also left the gym for the last time – VanLoo and Aleksic after five years on the floor, Horwood after 26 years on the bench.
VanLoo's fourth-quarter heroics might have turned the tide to the green and gold had it not been for a monstrous first quarter by the sixth-ranked Calgary Dinos. Henry Bekkering led the parade with a monstrous breakaway flush in his final home game, scoring nine of his 15 points in the opening frame, while import freshman Andy Rochon hit back-to-back threes late to extend a nine-point lead into 15.
Rochon was a big part of a strong night for the Calgary bench. All 12 of the rookie's points came from behind the arc, while sophomore Dustin Reding had 11 big points on 4-for-5 shooting.
“Those guys were awesome,” said Vanhooren. "Dustin has been a point-a-minute guy all year, and Andy Rochon was a killer against the zone. The two of them hit shots from the three-point line and caused them to have to change their defence, and that's big for us.”
Ross Bekkering capped off his stellar weekend for the Dinos with a team-leading 18 points along with nine rebounds, shooting 67 per cent from the field. Henry added 15, while Robbie Sihota found himself in foul trouble early and played just 16 minutes, scoring eight points on the night. Tyler Fidler added nine.
Scoring for the Golden Bears came courtesy their typical spread-out offence. VanLoo's 19 led the way, followed by 16 from Harvey Bradford, 14 from Aleksic, and an even dozen from Scott Leigh.
Calgary out-rebounded the visitors by a 45-32 margin.
After playing the Bears six times in conference and playoff competition, the Dinos escaped with four in the win column – and the tightness of the two games in this weekend series was beneficial to Calgary, according to the head coach.
“When you play teams six times, it's hard to beat them,” said Vanhooren. “It was good that we got them twice and our guys were able to battle through some adversity. It's also good that the games were close, because it's not going to get any different the rest of the way.”
The Final Four goes next weekend at UBC, when the Dinos will likely take on the Trinity Western Spartans in one semi-final, with UBC taking on the Great Plains champion in the other. The two semi-final winners will earn an automatic berth to the CIS Final 8 in Ottawa.
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