CALGARY – Buoyed by an impressive second quarter and a career performance from freshman Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, the sixth-ranked University of Calgary Dinos opened their final home series of the season with a 91-74 victory over the Regina Cougars Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

Winnipeg native Ogungbemi-Jackson shot 8-for-10 from the field for 22 points while adding six assists and four steals, while Ross Bekkering added a game-high 23 as the Dinos improved to 12-4 on the season. Regina falls to 8-7.

“Jarred played outstanding, and we need him to. That's a great breakout game for him,” said Dan Vanhooren, head coach of the Dinos. “He's been two-to-one in assist-turnover ratio all season long, and he's just an outstanding player and an outstanding teammate.”

After a first quarter that flew past, the Dinos led by just one point at 15-14, with Kris Heshka and Bekkering each scoring eight for their respective teams. Calgary found its offence in the second quarter, led by 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc from senior guard Jamie McLeod, to outscore the Cougars 31-20 in the frame and take a 12-point lead into the half. From there it was all about maintenance for Calgary en route to the 17-point win.

“I thought we looked a little tired early in the first quarter, but we were able to play our starters a little bit more in the second,” said Vanhooren. “We passed the ball much better in that quarter, and that's one of our strengths. If we share the ball we're a tough team to play against.”

With the game getting physical down the stretch, a scary play for the Dinos took place under their own hoop when Bekkering went up against Regina's Jeff Lukomski for a rebound. Both players hit the floor and immediately left for the benches – Lukomski with a bloody nose, and Bekkering favouring his left leg. With less than three minutes to play, neither player returned to action.

Of the Cougars' 34 field goal tries in the second half, 20 came from three-point land as they tried to claw back into the contest with seven of them cruising through the mesh. But it was Calgary that dominated the outside shooting, connecting on nearly 48 per cent of their three-point tries led by a trio each from McLeod and Ogungbemi-Jackson. Both teams shot relatively well overall with percentages slightly over 40, but Calgary dominated at the free throw line going 21-25 compared to 12-16 for the Cougars.

Heshka played just 22 minutes but was the unquestioned leader for Regina, also hitting on 8 of 10 attempts from the field to record a team-high 18 points and 12 rebounds. Lukomski added 15 points, largely on the strength of his three-point shooting, while Marek Downarowicz added 14 off the bench for the Cougars.

Four of Calgary's starting five ended up in double digits, with Robbie Sihota potting 18 and McLeod 11. Tyler Fidler was Calgary's rebounding leader with eight, followed by Bekkering's seven. The all-time leading rebounder in school history, Bekkering needs just five more to become only the fourth player in Canada West history to record 900 career rebounds.

The two teams hook up one more time Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym, with tip-off slated for 8 p.m. MT.

-UC-