WINNIPEG – In a battle of two of the top men's basketball programs in all of Canada, the No. 2 Calgary Dinos used a strong finish to take down the No. 4 Winnipeg Wesmen, 89-78, Friday night from the Duckworth Centre.

Calgary (8-1) trailed by as many as 11 points late in the first half, only to clamp down defensively down the stretch and outscore Winnipeg (7-2) 46-27 in the second half – holding the Wesmen to just 2-20 shooting from three over the final 20 minutes.

Four Dinos finished the night scoring in double figures, with All-Canadian guard Nate Petrone leading the way with 24 on 8-10 shooting. Noah Wharton (14), Matrynas Sabaliauskas (13) and Declan Peterson (10) all also tallied double-digit points on the night, while Javier Ramos-Yzquierdo and Dylan Lutes each chipped in with nine apiece.

Lamar Everd led the way for the home team with 16 points, while Malachi Alexander, Donald Stewart and Elijah Mensah each scored 14 points on the night.

The Wesmen used hot shooting early, going 7-14 from behind the arc in the first half, to build a 51-43 lead at the half.

But the Dinos locked down on defence in the second half and slowly chipped away. A layup by Wharton closed the gap to 55-53 with 5:33 left in the third before a triple from Petrone to close out the third gave Calgary the lead at 67-65.

Other than a pair of early threes by Winnipeg, the fourth quarter belong to the Dinos. A bucket by Ramos-Yzquierdo gave the Scarlet & Gold a 78-71 lead with 5:05 to play, before Calgary iced the game away at the line.

The two heavyweights are right back at it Saturday at 4 p.m. MT.

-UC-