EDMONTON – With the title for the first-ever Alberta Cup on the line, the University of Alberta Golden Bears gave a valiant effort but the division-leading and No.4 University of Calgary Dinos earned a 79-66 decision to end the regular season for both teams, Saturday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Counting only the conference results between the Alberta provincial schools in basketball, football, hockey, rugby, soccer, and volleyball, the school with the most wins among the Alberta schools would be determined the winner. Calgary finished first with a combined 41-20-2 record (.667 winning percentage) against all its provincial rivals while Alberta finished with a 38-20-0 record (.655).
Having already clinched the Pioneer division last weekend in the Canada West standings, the inaugural trophy acceptance helped motivate the visiting Dinos, led on the scoreboard by sophomore guard Thomas Cooper with a team-high 19 points while senior guard Jasdeep Gil and second-year forward Matt Letkeman each put up 13 points. Team-leading scorer Mamadou Gueye recorded a game-high 22 points for Alberta, just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Rookie forward Brody Clarke added 17 points in the losing effort.
Cooper, who led the conference in scoring coming into the final weekend, didn't start too well, committing four straight turnovers to help Alberta build a small lead but it was short-lived with the Bears' shooting struggling from beyond the arc.
Still, Alberta kept shooting to keep pace with the nationally ranked Dinos, the lead changing four times in the opening 10 minutes and five more times before halftime, Calgary entering the locker room with a narrow 33-32 lead because of a buzzer-beater just north of the baseline by third-year guard Torrez McKoy. Though Gueye got things even again at the charity stripe early into the second half, Letkeman grabbed hold of all the game's momentum with a monster two-handed jam two minutes into the third quarter.
The highlight-reel play started a 9-3 run for the Dinos, the visitors scoring most of their points from the field during that stretch, Calgary starting to pull away with success at the free throw line, making 11 of 12 shots to take an eight-point lead in the final quarter.
Unfortunately for the home team, the momentum continued to favour their southern rivals in the fourth frame, fourth-year forward Dallas Karch connecting on a backhanded fade-away shot on a pass from Letkeman before the Abbotsford, B.C. native scored on another huge dunk just under two minutes later to the elation of the Dino bench. Alberta didn't give up, however, continuing to stay within striking distance on the strength of Clarke's eight points in the quarter, but couldn't close the gap to end the season with a win.
Finishing the season at 10-10, the Bears will play on the "road" next weekend in the Play-In series, heading across the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton to play against their inter-city rivals, the Grant MacEwan University Griffins, in a best-of-three series. The winner of that series will then head south to Calgary for another weekend of inter-provincial playoff rivalry, also a best-of-three series.
