CALGARY – Joel Friesen exploded for 22 second-half points as the Fraser Valley Cascades earned a series split against the Calgary Dinos, taking a pivotal road game 86-69 Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

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Emerging from halftime with a slim 33-31 lead, Friesen and the Cascades took advantage of defensive miscues by the Dinos to put the game away in the third period, outscoring their hosts by a whopping 32-18 margin on nearly 65 percent shooting in the frame. From there, the Dinos were unable to gain any traction with their comeback attempts as UFV cruised to the 17-point victory.

The weekend split moves the Cascades to 5-9 on the season, while Calgary sits at 5-7 heading into a very tough stretch in the schedule: a visit to UBC next week followed by a visit from first-place Trinity Western.

Friesen hit shot after shot in the second half, building on his six first-half points to finish the night with 28 on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. He and Sam Freeman (17) were the only Cascades in double-digits, but a spread-out offence by UFV led to 53 points in the final 20 minutes.

Calgary head coach Dan Vanhooren pointed at his team's third-quarter defensive performance in his post-game analysis.

“We didn't play any defence,” the 11th-year head coach stated simply. “We couldn't find one thing that we could stop them in, and they hit shots from everywhere. We didn't rebound the ball well enough.

“Like I said last night, if our guys really want to get better, we need to pay attention to the little things,” he went on. “We looked exhausted out there, we looked like we were dragging in mud, and offensively we were anemic.”

Credit the Cascades, however, who made 11 of 17 field goals in the third quarter, including a quartet of threes. Calgary managed just 18 points in that third quarter against UFV's 32.

Statistically, the teams were virtually even across the board – other than the second-half shooting percentage, which UFV dominated with 56.3 against Calgary's 42.4. The Dinos won the turnover battle with 11 against 12 for UFV, each team finished with 18 personal fouls, and rebounding was relatively even with the Cascades holding a 45-39 edge and each team grabbing 17 off the offensive glass.

Calgary actually took three more shots from the field with 69 – but the Cascades scored six additional field goals (32), thanks largely to a glut of open looks and easy deuces on the fast break. And, while Vanhooren was pleased with his team getting 17 offensive rebounds of their own, giving up the same number was another of the lessons he said his team needs to learn.

“We talked about it at halftime: after the first quarter we gave up six 'O' glass, and we were down by 10 at one point,” he said. “Then in the second quarter, we give up just two and we're back in the game, down by two at halftime. But we came out and played small on defence with our hands down. Our posts need to play tougher and bigger, and on the other end we need to get some better looks and take some better shots.”

Tyler Fidler earned yet another double-double for the Dinos – his ninth in the 11 games he's played this season – with 14 points to match 14 rebounds. Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson chipped in with 12 points, as did Andrew McGuinness.

Both teams see their next action in the B.C. Lower Mainland next week with UFV hosting the Alberta Golden Bears while the Dinos pay a visit to the UBC Thunderbirds for a rematch of last year's CIS national semi-final.

-UC-