CALGARY – The two teams combined for 119 second-half points as the No. 3 Saskatchewan Huskies out-gunned the Calgary Dinos 107-92 Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym, putting Calgary's playoff chances on extremely thin ice.

BOX SCORE

With the victory, the Huskies improve to 19-4 on the season with only Saturday night's finale remaining. Calgary, meanwhile, falls to 8-15 and is in a must-win situation Saturday night if they are to qualify for the post-season for a ninth straight year.

It was a third-quarter explosion that broke open what was to that point a tight game, with the Huskies putting up 37 points in just 10 minutes while Calgary managed 24. Saskatchewan jacked up 23 shots in the third frame as missed shots and poor rebounding for the Dinos fed right into the Huskies' run-and-gun offence.

“The whole game is really about rebounding,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren. “In the second half, we got out of our offence and took some bad shots and gave them a transition game. The only time they really beat us was in transition – when we play them in the halfcourt we're actually okay.

“If we can get in a halfcourt game and rebound the ball tomorrow, we'll be in it.”

The offensive extravaganza that was the final 20 minutes negated a 40-40 halftime tie. Conference scoring leader Jamelle Barrett went off in the second half, recording 20 of his game-high 33 points to finish the night 12 of 22 from the field, adding 11 assists to his total as the Huskies moved the ball well in transition. Nolan Brudehl added 20 and Rejean Chabot 19, while Trevor Nerdahl went 5-for-7 for 14 points in just 12 minutes. The fourth quarter was all Nerdahl as he drained trey after triple after trifecta.

Offensively, the Dinos put five players in double digits and scored right with the Huskies for much of the night. Keenan Milburn had a season-high 26 and felt it from the outside, going 6-for-8 from three-point land. Tyler Fidler added 17 points, while Andrew McGuinness (13), Brad Clark (12), and Youri Anissovets (10) also broke the 10-point mark. In particular, Clark had an excellent outing, scoring 12 points in just 11 minutes. He scored 10 of those in the second quarter, where he just missed a put-back dunk that would have given him 14 on the night.

McGuinness added seven assists for the Dinos, while Milburn had five.

The two teams wrap up the regular season Saturday night with the rematch, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. MT in the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-