CALGARY - The Alberta Golden Bears threw everything they could at the University of Calgary Dinos Saturday night, but the home team battled back from a 15-point deficit to sweep their provincial rivals with an 87-77 win.

Top seed Calgary wins the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series 2-0 and will host the conference Final Four for the first time since 2008 next weekend. Calgary will play Manitoba in their semi-final Friday night.

Unlike the Dinos' Game 1 victory Friday in which they were up 42-26 at halftime, it was Alberta who took it to the Dinos in the first half, leading 44-31 at the break.

Dinos point guard David Kapinga spoke bluntly about what head coach Dan Vanhooren told them at halftime after a listless opening 20.

"He chewed us out," he explained. "He just reminded us that we beat this team a bunch of times and we could do it one more night, so we just had to pick it up."

The first half was one to forget for the Dinos and their star Thomas Cooper, who ended the half 1-10, while the Golden Bears were hot on offence, shooting 57 per cent for the 13-point lead. For the Golden Bears, Mamadou Gueye continued his strong play from an evening before, with 14 points and six rebounds at the half, with freshman forward Brody Clarke adding 11 points and three boards.

For Calgary, four players were stuck on six points, as they were completely outplayed by their provincial rivals.

But the second half was a different story, as Kapinga scored four straight points after two steals in the first minute of the quarter. A few possessions later, Kapinga found Matt Letkeman inside for a critical dunk to cut the lead to 46-39. Calgary scored four more three throws and then a Kapinga layup made it just a one-point game at 46-45 at the 6:22 mark.

Cooper scored a layup on the next Dinos possession to give Calgary its first lead since early on in the first quarter.

But Alberta continued to fight back as the two teams traded baskets and a Lyndon Annetts layup gave the visitors a 57-56 lead with 1:25 remaining.

Calgary's aggressive play was critical to end the quarter, as Jasdeep Gill hit a layup and four free throws later, the Dinos led 62-57 going into the fourth, scoring 31 points in the frame. After just six free throw attempts in the first half, the Dinos got to the line 16 times in the quarter, hitting 14 of them.

The Golden Bears would not go away in the fourth, as a Rav Dhaliwal three four minutes in tied the game at 69. It was tied again at 71, but that's when Alberta's offense went cold and Calgary's got hot at the perfect time.

The Dinos went on an 11-0 run and Alberta's drought wouldn't end until the 1:42 mark with a Dwan Williams three, but Lars Schlueter answered with a long-distance shot of his own.Calgary continued to hit free throws  down the stretch to win by 10.

Despite Cooper's rough start, he finished with 24 points, while Kapinga ended the night with 15, along with five assists and three steals.

"Me and Thomas understand it's all about the team, so when he has an off-night and they're doubling him, I just had to be aggressive and step it up to help him out," Kapinga said.

The pair got plenty of help from the rest of the starting five, as Letkeman, Schlueter and Josh Owen-Thomas all ended the night with 12 points.

Alberta was once again led by Gueye, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Clarke also scored 20 points and had eight points.

The Final Four was decided Saturday night with Thompson Rivers defeating Regina, setting up an all-B.C. semi-final between the Wolfpack and UBC Thunderbirds at 6 p.m., followed by the Bisons and Dinos at 8 next Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym. The semi-final winners will play for gold Saturday night at 8 p.m., with the bronze medal game preceding it at 6.

-UC-