CALGARY – Alan Spoonhunter poured in a game-high 27 points to lead the University of Calgary Dinos men's basketball team to a 96-85 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday night from inside the Jack Simpson Gym.

Calgary was red hot right out of the gates Saturday and never trailed, posting their third win in a row to improve to 8-8 on the year. Saskatchewan sees its record fall to 3-11.

Alan Spoonhunter led all players with 27 points on 10-15 shooting, including connecting on 5-7 from behind the arc. Noah Wharton was hot once again and finished with 25 points.

Mason Foreman added another double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Ezeoha Santiago (15) and Jeffrey Tezo (10) both also finished in double digits in the scoring column.

Maxwell Amoago led the Huskies with 20 points and six rebounds. Alexander Dewar added another 17 to go with a team-high eight boards, while Tyrese Potoma once again came up with a number of clutch shots and finished with 14.

Calgary came out of the gates on fire, with Spoonhunter drilling three from behind the arc in the first five minutes of the game to jump out to a 19-8 lead midway through the first quarter.

The Dinos hot shooting continued throughout the first half, burying nine three pointers in the first 20 minutes and holding a 53-41 lead at the break.

Saskatchewan did a good job to hang around during early hot shooting by the Dinos and finally were able to make a run of their own in the third. After an emphatic fast-break dunk by Spoonhunter made it 63-49 for the home team with 5:51 to play in the third, the Huskies started to chip away. A three by Potoma and a jumper by Amoafo cut things to single digits and a layup by Potomo to end the third cut things down to 67-63 with 10 minutes left.

A pair of free throws from Benjamin Rose to start the fourth made it a two-point contest. But the Dinos had an answer. Wharton hit another big triple and scored eight of the Dinos next 10 points to push the lead back to nine at 78-69. 

The Huskies continued to fight, cutting back to within four at 83-79 with 1:51 left, but the Dinos were too much down the stretch, with Spoonhunter scoring eight in a row in less than a minute to all but wrap this one up.

"The most important part for us was the first five minutes of the third quarter," Spoonhunter said. "We had a little lead and that's when you can kind of step on their throat, so to speak. I thought we did an okay job, but as you saw, it was a game until the end. It wasn't quite what we wanted, but we got the 'W' and we're just going to keep growing.

"It's the team mindset. We've been working on keeping our chemistry high and playing for one another. Mason, as you can see, he's our best player…just following him, because he's setting a great example for the rest of us."

The Huskies now head home to host Trinity Western next weekend, while the Dinos are on bye and will return to the court Feb. 3-4 in Regina.

-UC-