Ian Gustafson; Dinos Communications

CALGARY – Thanks to a monster night from Brett Layton, the University of Calgary Dinos overcame a lackadaisical effort to pick up a 71-62 win over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

The Dinos improve to 19-0 on the season, dropping TRU to 6-13 heading into Saturday night's season finale, with plenty on the line for each side: the Dinos are a win away from the first undefeated season in program history, while Thompson Rivers needs a victory to have any chance of qualifying for the postseason.

Despite a slow 13-10 first quarter in favour of the Dinos, Calgary pulled away in the second quarter to head into halftime with a 38-23 lead thanks to three monster Brett Layton dunks, part of his 23-point, 11-rebound effort.

In the third quarter, the Dinos kept their foot on the gas in the defensive end but struggled to get their offensive rhythm going against the WolfPack zone defence. The Dinos managed to escape the third quarter with a 53-41 lead.

In the fourth quarter, TRU put the pressure on the undefeated Dinos as Calgary led by as little as two points late in the quarter. Layton got some key offensive rebounds and made some key baskets to seal the deal for the Dinos to squeak out with a win.

Despite the win, head coach Dan Vanhooren was displeased with his team's effort tonight.

"We didn't execute on offence, we dribbled the ball around, we didn't play well against the zone, our offence was absolutely pathetic tonight…" Vanhooren said. "We only scored on transition out of our defence. We have to fix a lot of things, and it will be a long night of video."

When the WolfPack switched from their man-to-man defence to a zone defence, the Dinos seemed to struggle to get anything going on offence.

"We had a crappy week of practice, we had a lack of focus for most of the week, and these guys have got to get their heads on right going into the last game of the season," said Vanhooren.

"I loved (Brett Layton's) energy, he's the reason why we won the game, he just works really hard."

Mambi Diawara made some big shots tonight contributing 19 points and six rebounds. Lars Schlueter scored 11 points and Max Eisele was a workhorse on the defensive end sacrificing his body taking three charges tonight. Calgary played without injured point guard David Kapinga.

Anton Bilous led the way for the WolfPack with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Joe Davis was right behind him with 13 points and six rebounds. Michael Rouault also contributed 6 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Dinos and WolfPack will play the last game of the regular season Saturday night, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. MT in the Jack Simpson Gym. Prior to the game, the Dinos will recognize their four graduating seniors: Diawara, Schlueter, Kapinga, and Lucas Mannes.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll