VANCOUVER – Aidan Smith, Noah Wharton and Nate Petrone combined for 67 points as the No. 2 Calgary Dinos men's basketball team downed the No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds, 96-89, Friday night in the premier matchup in the country this weekend.

A back-and-forth game early, Calgary took the lead with 2:09 left in the first half and never looked back, dominating the third-ranked team in the nation by 18-plus the majority of the second half before a furious late rally made the final tally closer in the box score.

The undefeated Dinos move to 7-0 in conference play, while UBC falls to 4-3.

Nikola Guzina led the way for the T-Birds with a career-high 27 points along with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Arnaud Konan scored 13 points while Micah Jessie put up 10 points and seven boards off the bench.

Nate Petrone led all players with a game-high 29 points to go with five assists and two steals. Aidan Smith was a fantastic Robin to Petrone's Batman with 24 points and six rebounds on 9-15 shooting, including six three pointers to tie his career high. 

Petrone scored six early points to stake the Dinos out to an 8-4 lead to begin the night. UBC then scored 10 unanswered, a run capped by a three-pointer from Gus Goerzen.

The T-Birds led by as many as 10 points in the first, before the Dinos closed well in the final couple minutes to make it 20-16 for the home team at the break. Seven different Thunderbirds scored in the opening quarter.

A Konan triple made it 25-16 UBC early in the second, followed soon after by a nice driving layup from Guzina. 

They were unable to extend their lead though, as the Dinos ripped off a 13-0 run in the middle portion of the quarter, hitting a flurry of three-pointers. That put the visitors up 36-32, their first lead since the first few minutes of the game.

A catch-and-shoot three from Brendan Sullivan briefly recaptured the lead for the T-Birds, before the Dinos took it right back with another big run. The Scarlet & Gold led 46-37 at the half, taking some of the air out of what had been a loud UBC crowd.

Calgary kept the momentum going to begin the third, stretching the lead to 55-39 before Konan hit a much-needed three-pointer. That didn't slow the Dinos though, as they kept their foot on the gas pedal, going up 68-46 midway through the quarter.

UBC kept trying to inch back into the game, but the Dinos refused to slow down with Smith connecting on yet another triple just before the third-quarter horn to put Calgary ahead 73-55 with 10 to play.

A jumper by Wharton gave the Dinos an 18-point lead at 84-66 with 6:29 to play, when UBC started to find some momentum. The T-Birds closed the gap to single digits for the first time in the entire second half at 88-79 with just 3:14 left, only to see A. Smith immediately answer back with another from behind the arc.

UBC got as close as four with less than a minute left, but the Dinos salted the game away from the free-throw line. 

The two heavyweights are right at it Saturday at 7 p.m. MT again at the War Memorial Gym. The game is part of UBC's annual Courtside festival.

-UC-