Canada West Semi Final: Sihota's huge double-double gives Dinos a shot at Gold

by Lee Dorner, UBC Sports Info Assistant

Archive photo courtesy U of Calgary Archives

VANCOUVER - The Calgay Dinos earned a CIS tournament berth and will play for the Canada West title on Saturday, thanks to Robbie Sihota's 22 rebounds and 19 points powering them to an 82-69 win over the Simon Fraser Clan on Friday night.

Calgary led for almost the entire game, but couldn't put the pesky Clan away until the dying minutes, as they led by just six points heading into the fourth quarter.

Sean Burke drew the Clan to within six points midway through the fourth, but his side was unable to slow down the Dinos in the paint the rest of the way. Tyler Fiddler had two big dunks for Calgary late in the frame, and Jamie McLeod hooked up with Ross Bekkering for a slick alley-oop to add an exclamation mark as the Dinos pulled away in the final minutes.

Sihota accounted for more than half of his team's 42 rebounds in the contest, and he was a versatile threat offensively, shooting 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and drawing several fouls in the paint. He was also responsible for what was arguably the biggest play of the game late in the third quarter. After Burke's three-pointer with 30 seconds left in the frame cut Calgary's lead to just two points, Sihota nailed a three with just one second on the clock at the other end while being fouled, and he completed the four-point play to make it a six point Dinos advantage heading into the final quarter, giving his side a huge momentum swing in the process.

"He's been probably our most underrated player for the last five years," said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren. "He's been our leading scorer lots of times and he's only a half-step behind Ross in that category. He can rebound the ball and he's a great athlete, and he showed that tonight. It's great that he got an All-Star nod this year. He deserved it, and he played like one (on Friday)."

Bekkering poured in 12 first quarter points on 5-for-6 shooting, leading the Dinos on an 18-2 run to spot them a big early lead. He finished with a game-high 22 points in just 27 minutes, as foul trouble cut into his playing time.

The first half rebound battle was essentially a two-man show, especially at Calgary's defensive end. Sihota had 10 of his 13 first-half rebounds on defence, while the Clan's Eric Burrell fought him every step of the way, pulling down five offensive boards before halftime. Burrell led the Clan with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The win puts Calgary through to Saturday's Canada West championship game, setting up a possible rematch of last year's title game if the top-ranked T-Birds beat Saskatchewan tonight. Calgary won that game, but lost to the T-Birds during the CIS tournament.

"We've got a great rivalry going with UBC right now," said Vanhooren. "The guys are prepared for this, and having been here last year, certainly that experience helps these guys. We have a lot of those guys back this year so with the environment, pressure and that one-game-and-done feeling, they aren't focused too much on outcomes. They're still focused on the process and they did a good job of that (on Friday)."

Simon Fraser will play the loser of UBC-Saskatchewan at 5:00 p.m. PST on Saturday for Canada West bronze, with the championship game following at 7:00 p.m. All games are at UBC's War Memorial Gym.