HALIFAX – The University of Calgary Dinos put up a stifling defensive effort and will play for the national championship as a result after a 65-43 win over the Quebec champion McGill Redmen Saturday afternoon in the semifinal of the U SPORTS Final 8 at the Scotiabank Centre.
Second-seeded Calgary (23-4) will face No. 5 Ryerson for the national championship Sunday at 6 p.m. Atlantic time (3 p.m. MT), live nationwide on Sportsnet 360.
The Dinos held the McGill offence, which averaged 88 points per game, to less than half that total and pulled away late in the second quarter offensively after an uncharacteristically tentative start to the contest.
"Our defence held us in the game, all game long," said Calgary head coach
Dan Vanhooren. "Offensively, we turned the ball over too much. We had seven turnovers in the first quarter alone, and 12 at the half."
The defence held the Redmen to a pair of lengthy scoring droughts, one in each half. Noah Daoust's three-ball with 6:27 to play in the second quarter would be the final McGill points of the first half, with Calgary ending the period on a 14-0 run to take a 32-22 lead into halftime.
The Redmen came out firing in the third, with Francois Bourque picking up a steal and an emphatic dunk, but the Dinos returned the favour immediately when
Mambi Diawara found
Connor Foreman for a throw-down of his own. The lead had stretched to 15 by the fourth quarter.
In the final frame, McGill did not score for 7:33, by which point Calgary's lead had expanded to more than 20.
"We rebounded really well," Vanhooren added. "It was probably our best defensive performance of the year. McGill is a very good team. They missed some shots they would normally make. If they make those shots, it's a totally different game."
David Kapinga overcame a slow start to pace the Dinos with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting, with Diawara nabbing player-of-the-game honours with his 15-point performance. Foreman had one of his best games of the year, picking up a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double as the Dinos won the battle on the glass by a 42-37 margin.
Sunday will be the Dinos' third national final in school history as they search for their first national championship in program history following losses in 1966 and 2016. Kapinga agreed that the Dinos have evolved as a team over the past several years.
"The first year we were here, it was a different culture," he said. "We made it here, but with no expectations. Last year, we had expectations, but we drew Carleton in the first round and lost. The last two years were huge for us. We learned how to win."
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