Last weekend, the Dinos men’s basketball team presented an interesting rendition of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. On Friday night they lost by 13 points to the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, then returned on Saturday night to win by 25.
Friday’s game began with an impressive slam-dunk straight from the tip-off by Dinos forward Chris Harris, and was followed by what can only be described as a gong show. U of L played well, but the Dinos failed to make free throws, lay-ups, rebounds and at times couldn’t even pass successfully. Calgary added a lot of jazz to their shots, but flashy lay-ups don’t count unless they come out the bottom of the net. Lethbridge also shot poorly, making only 68 per cent of their free throws. The game ended with yet another slam-dunk, this time by the Pronghorns, adding insult to injury as the U of L won 83-70.
“We just weren’t making our free throws on Friday,” said Dinos Head Coach Dan VanHooren. “We shot 24 three pointers and only made five.”
Saturday was a different story. Like an entirely new team, the Dinos returned ready to fight. They kept their defense tight and sunk shot after shot, making 86 per cent from the line.
“It all comes down to focus and intensity,” said Harris. “On Saturday our rhythm was totally together.”
VanHooren claimed that the level of aggression was the biggest factor in the weekend’s results.
“It wasn’t any one player that lost us the game on Friday,” he said. “On Saturday we were just a lot more aggressive.”
In Friday’s game, Lethbridge’s Ryan Reed and Alan Spoonhunter each scored 21 points for the Pronghorns, while Dinos John Riad scored 16 and Chris Wright netted 14.
Riad scored an impressive 26 points on Saturday night, and Wright added 18. The Dinos host Saskatchewan Nov. 29-30 at 8:30 p.m. at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium.