In War Memorial Gym on Friday night, UBC’s men’s basketball team fell to the University of Calgary Dinos in an intense 109–96 game, settling for Canada West (CW) silver medals.
The ‘Birds were behind from the beginning and couldn’t get past, or in front of, Dino and CW Player of the Year Nate Petrone. He led the court with 38 points and 10 assists, accounting for 44 per cent of the Dinos’ score. With teammate Noah Wharton, who had 22 points and 3 assists, they were responsible for 67 per cent of the team’s offence.
“We've allowed the best players and other teams to be the best players. And tonight, those two showed up and Petrone played one heck of a game,” said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson after the game.
The game had an intense energy, complete with a packed and rowdy crowd of both UBC and Calgary fans. The two teams seemed evenly matched, going back and forth until the Dinos pulled away on a nine point run midway through the first quarter. The T-Birds bounced back a little with a layup from Gus Goerzen and points from Victor Radocaj but the Dinos still held a 34–24 lead at the end of the quarter.
UBC earned some momentum in the second quarter, earning offensive fouls and Adam Olsen sunk a beautiful three-pointer that got the crowd on their feet. However, the Thunderbirds’ defence looked disorganized, leaving space for many Calgary chances, and the home team went into the break, down 59–52.
“They were just hitting a bunch of tough shots,” said Olsen. “Petrone’s the player of the year for a reason.”
Fareed Shittu set the tone to open the third quarter, getting a dunk to cut the deficit to five points. But UBC continued to leave open spaces on defence, which the Dinos capitalized on, and the lead grew again. While the ‘Birds led in shots, Calgary’s efficiency was higher. Near the end of the quarter, T-Bird Brendan Sullivan had a renewed sense of energy, hitting an easy fastbreak layup before going behind the arc for a 9–4 UBC run, but the Dinos were still ahead at the buzzer.
Down 91–84, the ‘Birds started to play a quicker game in the last 10 minutes, forcing Calgary to commit travels or other fouls and getting within four points of the lead.
But, like throughout the game, the Dinos flipped the switch. They took advantage of open space and referees who didn’t seem to call equally, to pull away once more. As time ticked down, Calgary held onto possession and, when the buzzer rang, celebrated as CW champions.
As CW silver medalists, the Thunderbirds will play the sixth-seeded University of PEI Panthers in the national quarterfinal on Thursday night at 8 p.m. at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
“From now on, there's no easy games,” said Hanson. “There's gonna be three very, very tough teams [but] just one game at a time, like we've been doing all year.”
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