VANCOUVER –  Next man up, and on to the national championship.

With two key starters sidelined, the No. 2-seed University of Calgary Dinos men's basketball team cruised to a convincing 87-54 victory over the No. 6 UPEI Panthers in the national semifinal at the 2025 INDOCHINO U SPORTS Men's Final 8 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

U SPORTS Player of the Year Nate Petrone led the charge with 30 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, earning his second consecutive player of the game honour at the tournament.

The Dinos will now play for their second national championship in program history on Sunday, facing the Victoria Vikes in a rematch of their Canada West Semifinal.

"We felt like underdogs, no matter what," Petrone said. "We just had that mentality and we are going to keep rolling with it. [The final] is going to be a familiar foe. We know their players very well, and they know us. It's going to be very physical, and we are so excited for it."

Calgary dictated the play early on Friday with an 11-2 run and led by seven points mid-way through the first quarter.

Already without Canada West Third Team All-Star Noah Wharton, the Dinos suffered another setback when third-year centre Declan Peterson left the game with an injury and did not return.

The Panthers briefly cut Calgary's lead to two points with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Petrone sparked another 11-2 run to end the frame.

"It was like open gym – just have fun out there," Petrone said of playing without Peterson and Wharton. "The pressure went away. We have two of our starters out, we can play free, no one expects us to win now.

"It's going to be just proving more people wrong. It is fun – we are going to do it for them."

After stunning the home crowd with an upset win over the UBC Thunderbirds on Thursday, UPEI could not replicate the performance.

With the Dinos in foul trouble early, the Panthers left points at the free-throw line, finishing just 12-of-21 from the stripe. Calgary attempted nearly three times as many three-pointers throughout the night, with UPEI hitting just two of their 12 attempts, both in the third quarter.

Kyree Thompson led the Panthers with 16 points, while senior guard Kamari Scott added nine.

"I thought we did a really good job defending early," said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren. "We did our work before they got to spots and then we rebounded the ball pretty well."

Alongside Petrone's stellar performance, the Dinos received double-digit contributions from Daniels Baumanis (14), Aidan Smith (13), and Dylan Lutes (11).

Baumanis, making his first start of the season, was one of several players asked to play an increased role in the national semifinal.

"[Baumanis] was terrific," Vanhooren said. "For someone we're going to need in the future, this is a great experience for him, and he contributed so well."

All 11 available Dinos saw action, including first-year forward Arinze Aniagu, who scored his first collegiate basket on the big stage.

The final will be the fourth meeting of the season between Calgary and Victoria. The Vikes won both non-conference matchups in October, while the Dinos took their conference semifinal two weeks ago.

The national championship game tips off Sunday at 2 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on CBC and Sportsnet.

-UC-