CALGARY – Led by another sparkling effort by Canada West scoring champion Jamelle Barrett, the No. 3 Saskatchewan Huskies wrapped up a 20-4 season in conference play with a 95-76 win over the Calgary Dinos, eliminating the Dinos from playoff contention in the process.
BOX SCORE
Barrett finished two rebounds away from a triple-double, posting 27 points and 14 assists in 39 minutes on the floor to lead the Huskies to the win.
Calgary needed a victory coming into the night to claim the eighth and final playoff spot in Canada West. The Dinos finish the year 8-16 and finish ninth in the conference standings, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
While Calgary was able to keep the Huskies away from the century mark on the night, it was a dominant performance by Saskatchewan on the glass early that sent the visitors out to a sizable early lead. The Huskies held a monstrous 20-4 edge in rebounding after the first quarter and, while Calgary did pick it up on the glass from that point forward, the 10-point lead the Dinos spotted their opponents after 10 minutes turned out to be insurmountable.
“That's the difference in the game,” said Calgary coach
Dan Vanhooren, who took the Dinos to back-to-back national semi-finals in 2009 and 2010. “Our young guys will learn the importance of hitting somebody and keeping guys away from the glass. Our physical strength is going to improve, and we'll be back.”
Barrett had another slow start for the Huskies, doing most of his damage in the even quarters with eight and 10 in the second and fourth, respectively. Without question, however, his biggest hoop of the night was a ridiculous buzzer-beater off the window from five feet beyond the arc to end the third quarter. It quelled the momentum that Calgary had built up in the late stages of the frame – the Dinos had cut the Huskies' lead to just six points, but Barrett's magic made it a nine-point game for Saskatchewan heading into the final 10 minutes.
Duncan Jones added 16 while Rejean Chabot put up 15 and Michael Lieffers 14 for Saskatchewan. The visitors had an uncharacteristically poor night from the free throw line, however, connecting on just nine of their 23 opportunities.
But the free throw shooting didn't matter as the Huskies dominated on the glass, out-boarding Calgary by a 51-37 margin.
To their credit, Calgary stayed with the Huskies and didn't back down, even with the game out of hand – which made things interesting down the stretch as affairs got a little physical. The officials whistled 19 fouls between the two sides in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Fidler led the way for the Calgary Dinos with 17 points, while
Keenan Milburn and
Andrew McGuinness added 13 apiece for the Dinos.
Dustin Reding and
Matt Letkeman scored nine each.
It closes the book on a tough season for a young Dinos squad that lost the services of its top two point guards to injury with
Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson seeing action in just three games while
Andy Rochon had shoulder surgery in the off-season.
“I'm proud of our guys' efforts,” Vanhooren said. “They worked hard all year, and of all the teams fighting to make the playoffs we showed we're a competitive team and that's a testament to their effort. And there are some memories we're going to bring back from this season, like the way this game ended. This group is going to get older, and we'll have our turn.”
The Huskies finish third in Canada West and host their provincial rivals, the Regina Cougars, in a best-of-three conference quarterfinal series next weekend with the winner advancing to the Final Four.
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