Jack Pengelly; Dinos Communications

CALGARY – The No. 4 Dinos were able to preserve an 80-74 victory over the University of Winnipeg Wesmen Saturday night. It was a gritty performance by both sides, with defense controlling the game until the final minutes.

Finishing with 15 points off the bench for the Dinos was fourth-year transfer Lucas Mannes. All of Mannes' points were accounted for from behind the arc, and none were bigger than his bucket with 1:17 remaining to put the Dinos up four. Mannes also chipped in ten rebounds, leading the second unit that outscored the Wesmen bench 30-16.

"We're looking forward to him, we brought him in to be a scorer for us and that's what he's going to do for the rest of the year," said Assistant Coach Matt Skinn.

The Dinos opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to make it 30-23, from there they held a nine point advantage for much of the game. The offense was able to generate good looks against a stingy Wesmen defense, however could never pull away. Struggling from the three-point line, the Dinos finished 9/39 from distance. That was all the help Narcisse Ambanza and the Wesmen would need to claw their way back into the game.

Ambanza and Denzel Lynch-Blair attacked the heart of the Dinos' defense, scoring 24 and 19, respectfully. Untimely fouls by the Dinos brought the Wesmen within one point with less than two minutes to play, before Mannes' dagger put the game out of reach.

With the three point shot unusually absent for the Dinos, they relied on working the ball into the high-post against the Wesmen zone. Mambi Diawara scored a game-high 27 for the Dinos, most of it coming from inside the lane. Diawara currently leads Canada West with 26 ppg.

Following the game, Skinn acknowledged the strength of the Wesmen defense, which helped bring them back into the game.

"Credit to them too, they switched up their defense a bit, they played some zone against us and played some man… I think it threw us off a bit."

The Wesmen will look to continue to stymie the Calgary attack tomorrow, as they face off Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. MT.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll