BOX SCORE

CALGARY – After edging their archrivals by a single point Friday, the University of Calgary Dinos wanted nothing of the sort 24 hours later, pulling out the brooms on the No. 7 Alberta Golden Bears with a 79-64 win Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

The win improves Calgary's record to 6-10 and brings the Dinos' total of wins over Top 10-ranked teams to four, while the Bears drop to 10-6 on the season.

Calgary's win coupled with Manitoba's loss in Lethbridge puts the Dinos just two games behind the Bisons (8-8) in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in Canada West's Prairie division. The Bisons just happen to be the Dinos' next opponent, with that series set for Thursday-Friday, Feb. 2-3 at the IGAC in Winnipeg, and a sweep by the Dinos would all but clinch a post-season berth.

It was an inspired effort by point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson that paced the Dinos to victory on this night. The sophomore Winnipegger shot 10-15 from the field and put up 25 points in 35 minutes as Calgary opened up a nine-point lead after one and did not trail once in the game.

“It's just great to have him back,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren of his point guard, who missed six games with a hand injury earlier in the season. “He's a great player, and having him back has dropped our turnovers down significantly.

“One of the reasons we've been having problems is because we've been losing the rebounding, and finally this weekend we won that battle. At the very least we're competing on the glass, because if you give up O-glass, you typically give up a really good shot. That has helped us, and our perimeter defence is better with Jarred in the lineup.”

Tyler Fidler added 12 points and nine rebounds, passing Robbie Sihota and Ian Minnifee to become the No. 4 all-time leading scorer in University of Calgary men's basketball history. Now with 1,450 points, he trails three Dinos legends on the leaderboard: John Riad (1.686), Karl Tilleman (2,050), and Richard Bohne (2,171).

Boris Bakovic had a quieter night for Calgary, scoring eight and adding seven rebounds. There were plenty of crazy eights on the scoresheet for the Dinos with Keenan Milburn, Josh Owen-Thomas, and Andrew McGuinness joining Bakovic with that point total.

Alberta countered with a 16-point night from Robert Dewar, with 10 of those points coming in the opening half. Daniel Ferguson had 13 after scoring 24 Friday night, while Jordan Baker added 11 to follow up his own 24-point night on Friday.

Matthew Cardoza was Alberta's leading rebounder with eight on the night in just 23 minutes' work. The Golden Bears were much more effective down low with 20 points in the paint after just six in Friday's game, but their perimeter scoring wasn't as sharp with both Ferguson and Baker shooting in the 35 per cent range.

The Bears hit just a trio of treys on the night in 22 opportunities, while Calgary hit seven of its 20 attempts beyond the arc.

The Golden Bears head on the road again next week as they head east to face the Regina Cougars before returning home to take on the Brandon Bobcats. Calgary, meanwhile, continues the playoff chase in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Bisons next weekend, with their final home series set for Feb. 10-11 when the Winnipeg Wesmen roll into the Jack.

-UC-