BOX SCORE

CALGARY – With three of their top players out of the line-up, with the No. 4-ranked team in the nation in their gym, and staring a 2-6 start to the season in the face, Tyler Fidler put the Calgary Dinos on his back and led them to a 92-85 upset over the UBC Thunderbirds Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

The loss was the second straight for the Thunderbirds, who drop to 4-2 on the season, while Calgary improves to 3-5 as they head into the Christmas break.

Fidler, playing just 26 minutes on the night, put up 10 points in the opening quarter and didn't let up, finishing the night with 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 9-for-12 from the line in his best performance of the season. He was great, but he was able to play at that level because of strong play across the board from the Dinos in what head coach Dan Vanhooren described as one of the most significant victories of his career.

“I think that's top two, for sure,” said the 12th-year coach, who has had several epic battles with Kevin Hanson and the Thunderbirds during that time. “I'm so proud of the guys' energy and effort. We got a contribution from every guy on the bench. We pounded, we worked hard, we hit shots, we played smart, we executed. Tyler Fidler played like a fifth-year man tonight – he gave our guys the confidence that they needed to win a basketball game when they needed somebody to follow.

“We haven't played a single conference game with our entire line-up yet, and this was such a big game for us mentally. It creates a level of belief that we needed, and now moving forward, hopefully some special things can happen.”

The game featured 11 lead changes and seven tied scores, with the largest margin coming when UBC took a 14-6 lead just over four minutes into the contest. It was tight all the way.

The Dinos dug into that Thunderbird lead late in the opening quarter, with UBC taking a 27-22 advantage into the second. Led by a nine-point quarter from Josh Wolfram, the Dinos erased that deficit to send the game into the half at 45-45. It was 67-66 UBC after three, and the Dinos began to pull away late in the fourth when the Thunderbirds were forced to foul.

Despite winning the game, the Dinos were badly outmatched on the glass, giving up 51 rebounds to the Thunderbirds while collecting just 30. Calgary did, however, force UBC into 28 turnovers defensively and shot the ball extremely well as a unit – finishing the game at 52.6 per cent.

The Thunderbirds were led by a 17-point effort by Doug Plumb, with Malcolm Williams chipping in 16 off the bench along with Kamar Burke's 14 point, 11-rebound double-double. Nathan Yu, who ran into foul trouble early, played just 15 minutes and recorded eight points.

A total of five players fouled out of the contest – four of which were Thunderbirds.

The Dinos got big contributions from Dustin Reding with 16 points, Wolfram's 15, and 11 from Keenan Milburn. Patrick Walker had a big night with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting and was the Dinos' leading rebounder with six in just 15 minutes of play.

Both teams head into the Christmas break and will next see conference action on the opening weekend of 2012. The Thunderbirds will welcome prairie foes Alberta and Saskatchewan to War Memorial Gym Jan. 6-7, while Calgary will also play in the Lower Mainland that weekend as they head for a Fraser Valley-Trinity Western swing.

-UC-