Dinos put away the Heat

Buoyed by a 33-point third quarter, the Calgary Dinos got back to .500 with an 85-57 win over the UBC Okanagan Heat Saturday night in Canada West men’s basketball action in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Photo: Contributed - Cary Mellon

Ben Hindson (Naramata, BC)

After struggling with turnovers in the first half, committing 17 of them, Calgary was able to pull away in the third quarter thanks largely to the efforts of second-year point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson. The Winnipeg native went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the frame, scoring 11 points to spark the Dinos.

Calgary head coach Dan Vanhooren says the team became successful when they decided to keep the ball rather than give it away. 

“We had a ton of turnovers in the first half – eight of them were violations and two were offensive fouls. That’s 10 of our 17 turnovers in a half that were all our fault, entirely preventable, and we can’t do that. In the third quarter we had one turnover, and out of that we got some quality looks at the rim and we can score.”

Calgary held 19-12 and 33-22 leads after the first and second quarters, respectively, before blowing the game open in the third quarter. Ogungbemi-Jackson was the leader with his 20-point, 12-rebound double-double that included an impressive 11 defensive rebounds. Fifth-year forward Dustin Reding added 19 points in 18 minutes in an efficient performance on 8-of-13 shooting, while Tyler Fidler played just eight minutes but made his presence felt – scoring 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

The Dinos shot a solid 55 per cent on the night, including a whopping 74 per cent in the third quarter that was the difference-maker in the game. Calgary was also hot shooting from outside with eight treys on 13 tries.

UBC Okanagan, playing its first weekend of Canada West basketball, was unable to take advantage of the early Dinos miscues. The Heat shot just 23 per cent in the first half, including an 0-for-7 stretch from beyond the arc, yet still trailed by just 11 at the break. Despite putting up 19 themselves in a high-scoring third period, however, the Heat never found its shooting touch and managed just 32.3 per cent from the field on the night.

UBC Okanagan was led by a 12-point performance by their backcourt as Bret MacDonald (1st year, Port Coquitlam, BC), while Yassine Ghomari (3rd year, Vancouver, BC) chipped in with 11. Mack Roth (Wing, 2nd year, Port Coquitlam, BC), and posts Steve Morrison (4th year, N. Vancouver, BC), and Simon Pelland (5th year, N. Vancouver, BC) added eight points apiece for the Heat, while third year Ed Dane Medi (Wing, Rome, IT) was the visitors’ rebounding leader with five on the night.


The Heat will stay on the road as they have a pair of games in Abbotsford against the University of Fraser Valley Cascades. Games are Friday and Saturday Nov. 18-19 at 8 p.m. at the Envision Athletics Centre. The Dinos head back on the road next week, where they will face the Regina Cougars in a two-game series.

-Cary Mellon