BRANDON, Man. – The University of Calgary Dinos men's basketball team had a shot at the buzzer to tie things up but Gurshan Sran's three pointer was a hair too strong in a 90-87 road loss to Brandon University Friday night from the Healthy Living Centre.

The Dinos shot better 50 percent (33-64) for the game and went 17-20 from the free-throw line, but came up just short down the stretch to fall to 2-3 on the young season.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats have now won four in a row and improve to 4-1 on the year after a hot shooting night from behind the arc, connecting on 11 three pointers on the night.

Nate Petrone led the way for Calgary with 25 points on 10-15 shooting to go with eight rebounds. Javier Ramos-Yzquierdo continued to make strides, racking up 23 points on 9-14 shooting. To go with nine rebounds. Noah Wharton added 11 points, while Dylan Lutes chipped in with six and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Elisha Ampofo was 4-5 from behind the arc and had a team-hgih 24 points for Brandon, while Khari Ojeda-Harvey added 23 on 9-15 shooting.

It was a very even first half, with Calgary holding a 26-22 edge after one before the Bobcats carried a 50-49 edge into the halftime locker room.

Brandon got hot late in the third, connecting a three straight triples on three consecutive possessions to grab the largest lead of the game at 76-63 with 1:33 to play in the third. 

The game stayed at that relative spot until just under four minutes left in the contest, the Dinos made their run. Ramos-Yzquierdo started things off with a bucket to cut the deficit to 10 at 87-77. Petrone then found the basket before four straight from Ramos-Yzquierdo suddenly made it a four-point contest with 2:27 to play.

Another layup by the 6-foot-7 guard from Madrid, Spain made it an 89-87 game with 31 seconds to play. Calgary forced a turnover but couldn't convert on its ensuing possession. After a free throw by the Bobcats, the Dinos had one last chance with 1.1 seconds left on the clock. Sran got the inbound a few feet behind the arc, turned and fired only to see his last-second effort bounce off the back of the iron.

Calgary finished the game with advantages in rebounds (42-33), bench points (22-12) and points in the paint (50-36), but turned the ball over 19 times compared to Brandon's 13.

The two teams will battle again Saturday evening at 6 p.m. MT.

-UC-