BOX SCORE CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos suffered another heartbreaking loss on Jan. 17 when they were defeated 96-94 by the No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies. The Dinos fall to 5-8 while the Huskies improve to 10-3.
Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson had a game-high 28 points for the Dinos as well as a game-high six assists. Josh Owen-Thomas' 19 points and seven rebounds also paced Calgary. Philip Barndt recorded 16 points while Jhony Verrone scored 12 and Matt Letkeman added 10 more for the Dinos.
Canada West MVP, Stephon Lamar, scored 27 points and had five assists in Saskatchewan's win. Dadrian Collins added 19 points and five rebounds. Both Matt Forbes and Ben Baker added 13 for the Huskies and Andrew Henry scored 12 more.
The Dinos were flying in the first quarter as they got off to a 7-0 start before Saskatchewan got on the board. The Huskies were forced to call a timeout early when a three-pointer from Barndt pushed the Dinos lead 11.
Calgary's lead didn't last long as the Huskies played catch-up and drained two three's to get within one t 19-18 with two minutes left in the opening quarter. With seconds to go, Henry sunk a three to tie the game up 22 as the first expired.
In the second, the Dinos went on a 5-0 run to start, but got in foul trouble with a full six minutes left in the quarter. Sending the Huskies to the line a number of times, they were able to tie the game up again.
Saskatchewan finally took the lead at 37-34 with a three-pointer from Collins as both offenses were firing on all cylinders. The Huskies would maintain that three point lead until halftime by a score of 47-44. The offence on the Dinos side was well spread out as Owen-Thomas, Verrone and Ogungbemi-Jackson already had nine points each while Barndt was the only Dino to hit double digits with ten.
It was the third quarter that Saskatchewan started to pull away and their lead got up to 13 points before the Dinos being to mount a comeback. With a late 7-0 run, Calgary pulled the lead to within six at 74-68.
Cold to start the fourth, the Dinos were still down five points with six minutes left in the game. They finally began to start knocking on the door with a momentum shift thanks to a huge basket from Letkeman to get within three. A block from Dallas Karch late in the fourth along two free throws from Barndt got the troops fired up as the Dinos tied it at 88.
In the final 30 seconds of the game, the score was still tied up and Lamar made a lay-up to give the Huskies a two-point lead. With 15 seconds left, a great back door assist from Ogungbemi-Jackson to Karch allowed the Dinos to tie it again.
The final basket of the game came from none other than Lamar while scored a jumper. The Dinos were unable to convert and tie it once again. The final score read 96-94.
Calgary and Saskatchewan will rematch tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.