MBB: Petrone's career night leads Dinos to Canada West title

Recap by Jake McGrail, UBC Thunderbirds Communications

VANCOUVER – The pace was electric as both teams left it all out on the court, and when the dust settled it was the Calgary Dinos who emerged as Canada West champions, defeating the UBC Thunderbirds 109-96.

Nate Petrone more than lived up to his Canada West Player of the Year billing, as the Calgary superstar turned superhero while dropping 38 points on 15-21 shooting, along with 10 assists, leading his team to their eighth conference championship in program history.

Noah Wharton backed up Petrone with 22 points, five rebounds and five steals, while Declan Peterson recorded 15 points, nine boards and three blocks on perfect 7-7 shooting.

“Everybody shot the ball well,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren, who won his sixth Canada West title at the helm of the program. “Even when we played D well, they scored – UBC did such a great job. But our kids came out, and between Noah and Nate we were so tough to guard. It was one of those games where truly as a coach you just sat there and watched it. I’m so in awe of what some of these kids are capable of.”

Adam Olsen led the way offensively for the T-Birds with 21 points. Nikola Guzina poured in 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Fareed Shittu double-doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“Our guys have to look inward,” remarked Thunderbirds head coach Kevin Hanson, looking ahead to next week’s INDOCHINO U SPORTS Final 8. “I said, ‘Don’t blame another player, don’t look at your playing time, look at what you need to do better, and step up your game.’ From now on there’s no easy games, it just has to be one game at a time like we’ve been doing all year.”

The first quarter was the Petrone show, as he scored 19 points while not missing a single shot attempt, including a plethora of contested midrange jumpers. He stretched the lead out to 19-10 early, before the T-Birds tried to reel the Dinos back in with buckets from Gus Goerzen and Victor Radocaj.

Calgary, though, continued to pour it on, and a Gurshan Sran layup in the final few seconds made it 34-24 for the road team after the first 10 minutes.

A Wharton three-pointer early in the second made it a 12-point lead, before a furious UBC run cut the deficit to four following a triple from Tobi Akinkunmi. The two teams traded punches as the quarter wore along, exemplified by a tough jumper from Olsen in the final minute being immediately followed by a finish through contact at the rim by Daniels Baumanis that made it 59-52 at the half.

Another UBC highlight came on the first play of the third, when Sullivan threw an alley-oop to Shittu from beyond the three-point line. That energized the crowd, but seven straight points from Wharton and Dylan Lutes quieted things down once again.

The Dinos remained on fire offensively, stretching the lead out to 14 off a three from Petrone. An and-one from Micah Jessie on the other end put the lead back to single digits, and Sullivan made back-to-back buckets in the final minute to end the frame down by seven.

A Sullivan triple early in the fourth made it a four-point game, but that was as close as the ‘Birds would get as their offence began to fizzle for the first time all night. The Dinos also had their lowest-scoring quarter in the final frame, but got the buckets they needed to put the game out of reach.

A Petrone lob to Peterson served as a dagger of sorts, making it a 13-point lead with less than four minutes to play. When the buzzer sounded it was the team in red and white who stormed the court to celebrate, after shooting a scorching 60% from the field and 42% from deep on the night.

Attention will now turn to the INDOCHINO U SPORTS Final 8, running March 13th to 16th on the UBC campus. The bracket for the tournament will be unveiled in the coming days.