BOX SCORE

CALGARY – On the night he passed Andrew Spagrud for the unofficial national career points record, Boris Bakovic may have helped save his team's season, leading the University of Calgary Dinos to yet another upset of a top-10 team with a 67-66 nail-biter over their archrivals, the No. 7-ranked Alberta Golden Bears, Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Needing just 15 points to tie Spagrud, who starred for five years at the University of Saskatchewan, Bakovic put up 24 points to give him 2,191 on his career while hauling in 11 rebounds as the Dinos added the Bears to the list of big-time home wins this year, joining the UBC Thunderbirds and the Saskatchewan Huskies. Calgary improves to 5-10 on the season, while Alberta drops to 10-5.

Coupled with Lethbridge's win over Manitoba Friday night, the Dinos gained an important game in the standings against the Bisons, whom they meet next weekend in Winnipeg in a series that could very well decide the final playoff position in the East Division. And to do it, they needed one of their best defensive performances of the season and a fourth-quarter comeback after the Bears looked to be running away with it holding a 13-point lead with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter.

“Boris was outstanding tonight,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren. “He played like he can and like he has in his career, and that was the first time I've seen him get pumped up and fired up again and show some confidence in his leg. We played him a ton of minutes, so tomorrow night will be physically a little harder for us, but we will be in great shape if we can pull another one off tomorrow.”

After the Dinos cut Alberta's lead to six points after 30 minutes with a 7-0 run to end the third quarter, a big Bakovic three to open the fourth kept the momentum in Calgary's favour. By the time they were through, Calgary had turned a 53-40 deficit into a 58-53 lead with an unlikely 18-0 run that included two more threes by Tyler Fidler and Josh Owen-Thomas. They held the Bears off the scoresheet for more than seven minutes, then held on as things got interesting down the stretch.

The Bears would never lead again and, though Jordan Baker tied it at 66 with just over a minute to play, a Fidler free throw after a Baker foul gave Calgary the winning point. Bakovic got the defensive stop the Dinos needed with back-to-back blocks down low, and the Bears fumbled their last-ditch opportunity to the delight of a big Jack Simpson Gym crowd.

Baker was easily the best player on the floor for Alberta, scoring 24 while hauling in 13 rebounds. He was matched point-for-point by Daniel Ferguson, who shot 15 threes and connected on six of them. Most of Alberta's offence came from the perimeter, with the Bears chucking up 32 three-point attempts. They made good on a dozen, accounting for more than half of their scoring, but they managed just six points in the paint all night and went a scant 4-for-10 from the free-throw line – including an 0-for-4 performance by Baker.

Bakovic, who rarely left the floor in the second half, was backed up by a 14-point final 20 minutes by Fidler to give him 18 on the night. Fidler moved past Ross Bekkering into No. 6 on the Dinos' all-time scoring list, trailing Robbie Sihota by just two points and Ian Minnifee by four with 1,438 on his career. The fifth-year senior will look to move into sole possession of No. 4 in Saturday night's rematch with Alberta.

Point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson added 12 points for the Dinos, who shot 18-for-27 from the line. Owen-Thomas added nine points for Calgary.

Another classic edition of the Battle of Alberta is in the offing, with the rematch set for Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym. Tip-off is 8 p.m., live on CanadaWest.tv.

-UC-