CALGARY – Coming up with seemingly all the clutch plays when it mattered most, the Manitoba Bisons used a physical brand of basketball to clamp down on the Calgary Dinos men's basketball team for an 82-75 win in front of 1472 fans inside the Jack Simpson Gym Friday night.

In the fifth-straight game against a top-10 opponent, the No. 2 Dinos connected on just 37.1 percent (23-62) overall – by far their coldest shooting night so far this season. Meanwhile, the No. 10 Bisons shot 10-30 from three and did just enough down the stretch to earn the win to move to 10-1 on the year. Calgary drops to 8-3.

The game seemed to start with some jitters from both sides, as turnovers dominated the first quarter. Calgary shot just 29.4 percent (5-17) in the opening frame, while the Bisons were just a tick better at 6-17 (35.3%). A three from Mason Kraus gave the visitors an 18-11 lead after one.

The Dinos tried to get their home crowd into the game with a big dunk early in the second from Declan Peterson to go with a powerful post move from Spencer Roberts, but just couldn't get on track offensively. Meanwhile, Manitoba started to connect in the second, with clutch threes from Kraus and Daren Watts, as Watts poured in 19 first-half points to help the Bisons to a 41-29 edge at halftime.

Aidan Smith did what he could in the third. The third-year guard hit a number of big shots in the quarter for 11 of his 18 points, but Manitoba continued to keep the Dinos at arm's reach.

Calgary finally was able to chip away at the lead in the fourth, with a pair of threes from Noah Wharton building the anticipation inside the Jack to cut the deficit to 72-66 with over six to play. Nate Petrone followed with three free throws to make this a three-point game, but both offences stalled with neither team scoring for a long stretch.

After a bucket by Manitoba, Petrone drove hard for the hoop and the harm to pull Calgary within one at 75-74 with 1:40 to play as the Jack Simpson faithful rose to their feet.

But a triple by Brandt Lenz with 48 seconds left put the Bisons back up four as they iced the game away from there.

Watts led all players in this one with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while Kraus added another 22 points to go with five steals.

Wharton led the Dinos in this one with 20 points, five boards and three steals. Petrone was held relatively in check and finished with 19 points on a rare 5-13 shooting performance. 

The two Canada West heavyweights are right back at it Saturday evening with a scheduled 6 p.m. tip time from the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-