BRANDON, Man. – The University of Calgary Dinos led from start to finish for a nice bounce-back win over Brandon University, 82-67, Saturday evening from the Healthy Living Centre.

Martynas Sabaliauskas had the hot hand for the Dinos and finished with 18 points to help his club rebound from their first loss of the season to move to 3-1.

Brandon drops to 3-3 with the loss.

Daniels Baumanis finished the night with 14 points, five rebounds and two steals for Calgary. Mrigendra Dhaliwal stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block, while Hayden Franson led all players with 10 rebounds to go with five points.

Munroop Gill led the way for the Bobcats with 17 points on 7-13 shooting. One night after playing hero for the home team, Sultan Haider-Bhatti was limited to just five points on 1-11 shooting as the Dinos ramped up the defensive pressure in this one.

Baumanis opened the game with a triple for Calgary to set the tone. Brandon was up the challenge early, going shot-for-shot with the Dinos on the first four possessions to tie things up at 9-all. But Beckett Johnson made a nice move for a layup before back-to-back triples from Eli Djordjevic and Sabaliauskas quickly gave Calgary a 17-9 lead. The Dinos led 20-14 after one.

The second quarter proved to be the turning point in this one, as the Dinos got red hot – shooting 54% (7-13) from the floor in the frame, including 4-6 from behind the arc. A pair of free throws from Arinze Aniagu made it a 10-point game at 29-19 before another three-pointer from Sabaliauskas made it 47-27 with 3:08 to play in the second. Calgary held a 51-35 lead at the break.

The Dinos were able to comfortably ice this one away from there, never allowing the Bobcats to get closer than 12 points the entire second half. A jumper by Dre Francis kept things at a 17-point advantage after three at 68-51 before the Dinos were able to play a majority of their bench down the stretch in the convincing win.

Calgary shot 50% (14-28) from the floor in the second half despite going 0-7 from three. One night after seemingly everything fell for the home team, the Dinos' defence limited Brandon to just 36.8% shooting (25-68) overall and just 19.2% (5-26) from deep.

Despite their run of dominance over the years, this marks the first conference win for the Dinos in Brandon since Nov. 17, 2017 - ending a four-game skid. 

Next up is the home opener for Calgary as they get set to host Fraser Valley from inside the Jack Simpson Gym next weekend. Friday's opener is set for an 8 p.m. start, while Saturday's game has a 6 p.m. tip time. Both games will follow the women's competition.

-UC-