BRANDON, Man. – The fifth-ranked Calgary Dinos wrapped up their first-ever two-game sweep of the Brandon Bobcats and clinched Canada West's Prairie Division in the process, taking a 96-88 decision Saturday night in Brandon.

BOX SCORE

In the face of a much more spirited and hot-shooting Brandon University Bobcats team, the Dinos remained composed behind 31 points from fifth-year forward Robbie Sihota en route to the victory.

Calgary will host a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal Feb. 26-28 in the Jack Simpson Gym, with their opponent yet to be determined. The Dinos will play the wild card selection, to be chosen between the fifth-place finisher in the Prairie Division and the fourth-place Pacific team.

The Dinos were forced to deal with a Brandon team that had much better success from the field compared to Friday, hitting on an absurd 47% of their threes. Kyle Vince, a third-year forward for the Bobcats, hit nine of 15 long-range shots for a career high 30 points. 

But despite the hot shooting, which gave Brandon the lead for the majority of the first half, the Dinos were able to keep it close with quality shooting of their own. The Dinos shot 48% from the field, and were also a respectable 8 of 22 from three-point land.

The Dinos would take the lead early in the third quarter and hold onto it from there, extending their lead to 12 at one point late in the fourth. Brandon posed one last threat with less than two minutes to play, when a four-point play from Vince and a Dany Charlery jumper would cut the lead to five.

Sihota would calm the situation down for good, however, immediately taking it strong to the hole for the hoop and the harm, effectively sealing the victory for Calgary.

Playing in his final CIS game, fifth-year guard Charlery helped Brandon offensively, scoring 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Sihota added 11 rebounds to go along with the 31 points, securing another double-double, while rookie guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson dropped 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Dinos. Fifth-year forward Ross Bekkering added 24 points.

Head coach Dan Vanhooren knows his team fought off a tough Bobcats attack.

“I thought we played really well considering how hard they were playing for seniors' night,” said Vanhooren. “You're not going to win very often when the other team shoots 17 for 36 from the three point line, so I think the victory says a lot about how well our guys played.

“We had 21 assists compared to 11 turnovers – that's really good, smart basketball,” he continued. “Hats off to Brandon though, they played hard for Charlery and stayed in the game the whole way.”

In the loss, Brandon ends their season in disappointing fashion at 7-13 and is staring at a serious rebuilding effort in the offseason, forced to replace the strong offence of both Charlery and Tarik Tokar. Just three years ago, Brandon went all the way to the CIS national final, where they lost to the Carleton Ravens by three points.

Calgary (15-4) has one game remaining in the regular season, where they will travel down to Lethbridge for a lone game next Saturday. While it will have no effect on their playoff destiny, as they have wrapped up first place in their division, it could very well be a potential playoff preview.

Lethbridge is currently in the race for a remaining playoff spot, sitting in fifth in the Prairie Division. Should they nab the cross-over wild-card bid, where they would take the fourth playoff spot in the Pacific, they would meet the Dinos yet again, but this time at the Jack Simpson Gym in the opening round of the Canada West playoffs.

The Dinos and Pronghorns will finish out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 13 at the 1st Choice Savings Centre in Lethbridge.

-UC-