CALGARY – Ice-cold shooting sunk the University of Calgary Dinos Saturday night, dropping their second straight to University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 85-65. In the first quarter the Dinos beat themselves, for the remaining 30 minutes the Pronghorns earned the win by holding the Dinos comeback attempt at bay.
Saturday featured Senior Night celebrations for seven Dinos (including three former players whose senior season was cancelled due to COVID-19). Included in the septet was Canada West second team all-star
Mason Foreman, who was unavailable to play Saturday night due to an injury.
Missing a top-five rebounder in CW, the Dinos had no answer for Jeff Rodehutskors and the Pronghorns. Rodehutskors followed his impressive Friday night with 14 points on just six field-goal attempts. As a team, Lethbridge shot 57 percent in the opening half, more than doubling Calgary's percentage.
Improving in intensity in the middle two frames, the Dinos attempted to claw themselves back in the game by getting to the free-throw line. That cracked the seal on the rim with Calgary shooting 22-of-24 at the line in the second and third quarters.
The lead shrunk to single digits for a brief moment late in the third quarter, but continued struggles from the field brought the Dinos to a halt. Calgary ended the game shooting 27 per cent from the floor.
With a depleted frontcourt, several Dinos had big shoes to fill (quite literally). Among the crop up was first-year forward
Javier Ramos-Yzquierdo who pulled in a game-high 18 rebounds. The Spanish freshman completed his best weekend at the Jack Simpson Gym, after adding 15 points on Friday night for Calgary.
A welcome opportunity presents itself for the Dinos to rest and get healthy with a bye week on tap. They close out the regular season on the road against the 11-0 Alberta Golden Bears in two weeks.
Lethbridge returns home next week to face Alberta, with an outside chance at second place in the Central Division still in play. Coverage begins at 8 p.m. MT on Canada.West.tv presented by Co-op.
