OTTAWA (CIS) – Ross Bekkering scored 26 points and older brother Henry Bekkering added 25 as the No. 2-seeded Calgary Dinos used dominating middle quarters to beat the No. 7 Concordia Stingers 76-67 in the first quarterfinal of the 2009 CIS men's basketball championship, Friday afternoon, at Scotiabank Place.
Championship website: www.universitysport.ca/e/final8/2009
BOX SCORE
Making their seventh appearance at the tournament since the inaugural national championship in 1962-63, the Dinos will play in the semi-final round for the third time in history Saturday at 4 p.m. MT when they face the UBC Thunderbirds in a re-match of the Canada West final, which Calgary won two weeks ago in Vancouver.
The game will be broadcast live on The Score, with a webcast available via the Championship website.
Calgary, which is looking for a first W.P. McGee trophy title, previously played in the national semi-finals in their last trip to the CIS tourney in 2004, and in 1966, when the championship was a four-team competition.
Concordia, which captured its lone McGee trophy in 1990, moves to the consolation side of the draw and will face the losers of UBC-Dalhousie, Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
After jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead, the Dinos went cold for the rest of the opening quarter and found themselves trailing 23-14 after 10 minutes of play.
The Canada West champions found their game in the second stanza, outscoring their Quebec rivals 18-9, and went into the locker room tied at 32 all thanks to a Andy Rochon three-point shot with 33 seconds left on the clock.
Back from the break, Calgary conceded the first two points but then went on a decisive 18-0 run, including back-to-back thunderous dunks by Henry Bekkering (Taber, Alta.) and Robbie Sihota (Calgary), to go up 50-34, en route to a 58-42 advantage after 30 minutes.
The QSSF champion Stingers opened the final stanza on a 14-2 run to close the gap to four points, at 60-56, but Calgary responded with a 10-0 run of their own to put the game away for good.
Ross Bekkering (Taber, Alta.), a six-foot-eight, second-team all-Canadian forward, was named player of thegame for the victors following a 26-point, 15-rebound double-double. He was a near-perfect 10-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line, and also had six steals.
Brother Henry, a six-foot-six forward, had five rebounds and three assists to go with his 25 points, while six-foot-nine sophomore Tyler Fidler (Calgary) also scored in double figures finishing with 12 points and eight boards.
“The first quarter there is a little bit of nerves, we expect that on a national stage. The only way to have a great game is just to have fun out there and relax, and I thought we really did that from the second quarter on,” said the younger Bekkering.
“We went down 11 early and for our guys to battle back and tie the game at half that was big for us,” said UC head coach Dan Vanhooren. “The biggest issue for us is us turning the ball over, I think we had some nervous jitters out there and we played some silly basketball at times, we just have to be a little tougher with the basketball.”
Fifth-year guard Dwayne Buckley (Montreal) paced Concordia with 19 points and was named the Stingers game MVP. Brother Damian (Montreal), a first-team all-Canadian guard, had six points, five assists and eight steals, while freshman Evens Laroche (Montreal) scored 16 points.
“We just didn't get it done, I don't think we got the effort we needed from a lot of guys, they beat us to these balls, they beat us down the floor,” said Concordia head coach John Dore. “They are a lot bigger and physical than we are. We let them come, they fed off the dunks and the excitement.”
“We had to play smarter and harder than them, I'm not sure we did either.”
Calgary shot 50.8 percent from the floor (30-59) on the afternoon while Concordia finished at 38.4 percent (28-73). The Dinos outrebounded the Stingers 40-27.
STAT LEADERS
Calgary
Points: Ross Bekkering (26), Henry Bekkering (25), Tyler Fidler (12)
Rebounds: Ross Bekkering (15), Tyler Fidler (8)
Assists: Jamie McLeod (3), Henry Bekkering (3)
Player of the game: Ross Bekkering
Concordia
Points: Dwayne Buckley (19), Evens Laroche (16), Jamal Gallier (8)
Rebounds: Jamal Gallier (9), Damian Buckley (6)
Assists: Damian Buckley (5)
Player of the game: Dwayne Buckley
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL)
Friday, March 13
Quarterfinal #1: No. 2 Calgary 76, No. 7 Concordia 67
14:30 Quarterfinal #2: No. 3 UBC vs. No. 6 Dalhousie
18:00 Quarterfinal #3: No. 4 Western Ontario vs. No. 5 Ottawa (The Score)
20:00 Quarterfinal #4: No. 1 Carleton vs. No. 8 St. Francis Xavier (The Score / tape delay: 22:00)
Saturday, March 14
12:30 Consolation #1: No. 7 Concordia vs. TBD
14:30 Consolation #2
18:00 Semifinal #1: No. 2 Calgary vs. TBD (The Score)
20:00 Semifinal #2 (The Score)
Sunday, March 15
13:30 5th-place consolation final
16:00 Final (The Score)
-CIS-
