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Calgary (7-1) 98, #4 Alberta (5-3) 73 Calgary led 55-35 at halftime and rolled to another lopsided win over the #4 Bears. From Calgary Sports Info... DINOS MAUL BEARS, SWEEP WEEKEND CALGARY – After a quiet outing Friday, Ross Bekkering was a monster for Calgary Saturday night, leading the unranked Dinos over the fifth-ranked Alberta Golden Bears 98-73 in the Jack Simpson Gym. Bekkering (3rd year, Taber, Alta.) exploded out of the gates, scoring 16 points and hauling down 10 rebounds in the first half as Calgary opened up a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back, picking up his sixth double-double in eight games this season. “Ross is a great athlete and he works really hard,” said Dinos coach Dan Vanhooren. “From a rebounding perspective and on the defensive side of the ball, Ross is huge part of why we’re successful. I’m really excited for him to be playing this well in his third year. Much of Calgary’s offensive success was the result of excellent defence, which held the Bears to only 36 per cent shooting from the field. “I thought it was a team effort, and defending Alex (Steele) is always tough. Jeff (Price) did a better job on him tonight, and our help side was always there. It made it really tough for him, especially in the first half. I give a lot of credit to the guys for their focus on our game plan.” Steele (5th, Edmonton), the Bears’ top scorer, was held to only four points in the opening half and 14 overall. Bekkering finished the night with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Robbie Sihota (3rd, Calgary) also finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and hauling down 10 rebounds. Cody Darrah (5th, Edmonton) hit four threes and finished with 14 points, while Henry Bekkering (4th, Taber) and Price (3rd, Calgary) scored 10 apiece. Forward Richard Bates (5th, Sherwood Park, Alta.) was the best player on the floor for Alberta, scoring 16 points to go with a dozen boards. Steele and Andrew Parker (5th, Edmonton) scored 14 each, while Harvey Bradford (3rd, Skookumchuck, B.C.) had 11. The weekend sweep gives the Dinos sole possession of first place in the Canada West Central Division with at 7-1, four points ahead of 5-3 Alberta. “These are two big wins for multiple reasons,” Vanhooren went on. “With big crowds and recruits in the stands both nights, this bodes well for a lot of aspects of our programs. It puts us in first by ourselves, and one of our goals is to finish first in the division and host the Final Four. “We’ll have to refocus, though, and come out strong against Saskatchewan next week. They’re an experienced team and we haven’t had much success against them lately, so we need to be ready.” The Dinos and Huskies will hook up next weekend in the Jack Simpson Gym to wrap up conference play before the December exam break, while the Golden Bears close their opening semester with another trip south to face the 0-8 Lethbridge Pronghorns.
Saskatchewan (5-3) 92, Lethbridge (0-8) 71 6'2" Kyle Grant had 22 of his season-high 25 points in the second half and the Huskies rolled to a victory despite playing without 6'8" Andrew Spagrud, who missed the first league game of his five-year CIS career after sustaining an ankle injury early in last night's game. Freshman Chris Bodnar got his first career start and had career-high 20 points (12-14 from FT, 2-3 3FG). The Huskies also got a career-high 20 points plus 5 steals from Troy Gottselig (8-11 FG). Saskatchewan/Lethbridge Box Score

#7 Brandon (7-1) 95, Regina (4-4) 77 Written by: Jeremy Sawatzky, BU Sports Information #7 Bobcats Sweep Cougars, Improve To 7-1 BRANDON, MB – The 7th ranked Brandon University Bobcats completed a two-game sweep of the Regina Cougars on Saturday night, cruising to a 95-77 victory at the BU Gymnasium. Despite the absence of a pair of starters in Tarik Tokar and Yuri Whyms – both of whom missed the game due to injury problems – the 'Cats lit up the Cougars offensively and knocked off their divisional foes for the 8th straight time. To make the victory even more impressive, 5th year point guard Yul Michel sat on the bench for most of the first half due to foul trouble. "It's definitely a luxury for a coach to be able to look down the bench and pick and choose who you want to go with in a situation like this," said first year Brandon coach Mike Raimbault. "All of our guys are capable of stepping up and putting in a big performance." It was a pair of starters, however, who did most of the damage on this night: Dany Charlery delivered 29 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, while 5th year forward Adam Hartman added 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. "We just had to step up, everybody, even the rookies… everybody chipped in and did what they had to do," commented Charlery. "The ball was dropping for me, I felt good, so I just kept going." With the win, the 'Cats improved their record to 7-1, three games ahead of the 4-4 Cougars for first place in the Great Plains division standings. "Every time we step on the floor we're capable of beating anyone," added Raimbault. "Tonight especially we had a lot of people who needed to step up because of the absence of Tokar… I'm pleased with the guys who came off the bench and got the job done." Freshmen Kevin Oliver notched 14 points in 21 minutes of action, while Michel finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists despite playing only 23 minutes. Bryden Wright led the way for Regina with 24 points. Jamal Williams scored 20 and Jeff Lukomski dropped 18.

#10 Cape Breton (5-1) 72, St. FX (4-1) 61 6'4" Paul Blake, in only his second game back after missing three weeks with a hamstring injury, had a team-high 17 points and added 7 rebounds as the Capers avenged Thursday's loss at home to the X-Men by returning the favour Saturday night in Antigonish. 6'5" Eric Breland was his usual load inside with 15 points/9 rebounds and 5 assists. X, which trailed by 11 after three quarters and could not bring it back in the fourth, got 23 points and 6 rebounds from 6'2" guard Tyler Richards.

St. Mary's (2-2) 110, Memorial (0-5) 98 DOUBLE OVERTIME The Seahawks got a herculian 38 point, 15 assist effort from Robert Grant but could not hold off the Huskies, who outscored MUN 17-5 in the second overtime to claim an important win at St. John's. 6'2" Mark McLaughlin had 32 points to lead St. Mary's while 6'5" Aaron Duncan added 25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals for the Huskies. Reliable 6'1" point guard Mark Ross had 8 points and 9 assists against only 2 turnovers for SMU, which survived a scare by the hometown Seahawks.

#6 Acadia (4-1) 88, UPEI (3-2) 54 Thanks to UPEI Basketball blog for this game report... An 8-8 tie 4 minutes into the game quickly turned into an Acadia advantage, as the Axemen scored from inside and out to take the 88-54 win over the Panthers in Charlottetown. Leonel Saintil was a beast on the boards for Acadia as he gobbled every ball near him powering the Axemen attack for 8 points, 16 boards and 6 steals, and his rebounding ability was the big difference in the contest. UPEI had quality looks at the basket but their young frontcourt didn't match up with the experience and length of Acadia who seemed to clog up the middle all night long. Peter Leighton led Acadia with 20, including 6/9 from long range, while Luckern Dieu had 19, and Shawn Berry 12. Down 26-15 at the end of the first period UPEI looked like they were going to make a game of it as they forced Acadia into a 24 second shot clock violation to start the second quarter. They followed it up with a defensive stop the next time down the floor, with Jared Budd hitting a layup in traffic, then getting a steal. Panther faithful thought the tide had turned, but Acadia was able to handle the Panther run and stay ahead 35-20 with 5 minutes left in the half. Jon Cooper then stole the ball and dunked on the break, and Manock Lual took an offensive charge and scored on the other end bringing UPEI to 40-26 at the break. Acadia seemed to get every offensive break in the second half as they hit 50% of their three pointers for the game, and Panther attempts came up short. Chad MacDonald came off the bench to score 5 straight UPEI points, but they were never able to get into an offensive sync for the game. Manock Lual and Jared Budd led the Panthers with 11 each, with Andrew Black scoring 7. The two teams meet again on Sunday afternoon at 3pm, with the game webcast on Panthertv.ca.

Dalhousie (2-3) 62, UNB (0-5) 60 6'5" Germain Bendegue had a terrific effort in and around the paint, scorching the Varsity Reds for 20 points and 17 rebounds, including 7 on the offensive glass as the Tigers survived at UNB. Dal overcame an uncharacteristic poor shooting performance by 6'1" Simon Farine, who went only 3 for 16 from the field, but still scored 9 points and added 7 rebounds, 7 assists. 6'5" Drew Stratton chipped in with 13 points and 8 rebounds for Dal while Michael Anderson had 20 for the losers.

McGill (2-1) 95, Bishop's (2-2) 83 Bishop’s sqaundered a 50-36 lead at halftime as the Redmen upped their tenacity on defense and Bishop’s turned it over 16 times in the second half (as against only 5 in the 1st), allowing McGill scoring 59 points after the intermission. Bishop’s had held Concordia to 65 for the entire game last week and just did not get it done defensively. 6'3" Mustafa El Zanaty had 18 of his 22 points in the second half and 6'4" Sean Anthony added all of 16 in the second half as well. 6'4" Matt Thornhill had 12 and 6'6" Yannick Chouinard added 10 for McGill. For Bishop’s 6'1" Junior Nicolas had 28, 6'6" Herman Tesfaghebriel had 24 pts in 18 minutes while Damon Thomas Anderson had 11 pts and led all rebounders with 9.

Laval (2-2) 68, #5 Concordia (2-1) 62 After a slow start, Les Rouge et Or turned up the "d" and won a big game at home. The Stingers led by as much as 8 in the first half but a late Laval run got them back to within 2 by halftime. A series of third-quarter scores by 6'4" Jerome Turcotte (14 points, 6 rebounds) finally allowed Laval to take their first lead and the lead changed hands a few times until the final 2 minutes when Les Rouge et Or got a huge putback from 6'4" FO Hebert followed up by a huge three from 5'9" Xavier Baribeau on a nice feed by 6'7" J.P. Morin with the shot clock running out to take the lead for good. Morin led Laval with 26 points and 9 rebounds while 6'1" Damian Buckley led Concordia, who played without 6'3" Dwayne Buckley - out with a knee injury -, with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Ottawa (6-0) 84, Western (2-4) 67 The Gee-Gees remained undefeated in league play behind 19 points from 6'3" wing Donnie Gibson, who is emerging as a key cog in Ottawa's starting unit. Gibson was 8 for 15 from the field and added 12 rebounds as Ottawa took leads as large as 22 in the second half, primarily by attacking the offensive glass (19 "o" boards) and outrebounding the Mustangs 44-33. 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the Gee-Gees while 6'9" Dax Dessureault had a solid 13 points/8 rebounds as the Gee-Gees got surprising contributions from deeper in their bench than they normally go. 6'6" Brad Smith led Western with 19 points including a pair of emphatic dunks while 6'8" Alan Paron added 14 for the Mustangs, who turned the ball over 18 times on the night.

#1 Carleton (6-0) 81, #2 Windsor (4-2) 73 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp went off for a career-high 33 points and added 17 rebounds as the Ravens sent the Lancers home with a pair of weekend losses. 6'4" Ryan Bell added 14 points and 5 assists for Carleton while scrappy 6'3" wing Stu Turnbull added 11 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in another strong, consistent effort. 6'1" Ryan Steer shook off a mediocre performance against Ottawa with 21 points including 4 for 7 3's while 6'8" Greg Surmacz added a 13 point/11 rebound double/double. Isaac Kuon had another nice offensive performance with 16 points including 4 for 7 3's but 6'5" Kevin Kloostra finished with only 5 points before fouling. The Lancers go back on the road next weekend to face U of T and Ryerson in Toronto.

Lakehead (3-3) 81, York (1-5) 59 The Thunderwolves won going away after leading by 25 after 3 quarters as 6'4" Kiraan Posey had another solid effort with 20 points and 13 rebounds. 6'7" Warren Thomas added 18 points/7 rebounds as Lakehead held York to just 27% shooting for the evening. 6'7" Matt Terejko led the Lions with 17 points/9 rebounds.

McMaster (2-4) 84, Laurentian (1-5) 74 The young Marauders had a solid, character-building come-from-behind win after trailing by 4 entering the fourth quarter. 6'2" freshman Tyrell Vernon had 22 points including several big shots in the final quarter to allow Mac to split the weekend. 6'8" Mouchtar Diaby had 13 points/7 rebounds while 6'1" Amino Bello went 3 for 7 as part of his 13 points for Mac. 6'8" Joe Polizzi, despite playing on a very sore and injured ankle, contributed 9 points in 26 valiant minutes while 6'6" freshman Brett Day, despite scoring only 4 points, was instrumental in the fourth quarter surge. Laurentian placed 4 players in double figures including 6'6" Matas Tirilis who had 17 points/7 rebounds.

#8 Toronto (5-1) 70, Brock (4-2) 66 Despite going only 2 for 15 from downtown, the Blues took a very important road game by holding off a very good Badger team down the stretch. Brock came to within 1 late in the game after 4 consecutive Blues turnovers allowed the Badgers to almost come all the way back from a 12 point fourth quarter deficit. 6'2" Rob Paris returned home to his native St. Catharines and knocked in 20 points for Toronto while consistently-strong 6'3" guard Mike Degiorgio again flirted with a triple/double, scoring 14 points, while adding 7 rebounds and 8 assists. 6'7" Nick Snow played all 40 minutes and had 7 points plus a game-high 15 rebounds. 6'2" Mike Kemp led the Badgers, who played without 6'3" starting wing Rohan Steen out with an ankle injury, with 25 points including 4-10 from 3 while 5'10" Brad Rootes had 20 points but made only 5 for 19 after knocking down his first 2 shots of the game (both 3's) and had only 5 assists (a low total by his standards).

#9 Guelph (6-0) 95, Ryerson (2-4) 87 Once again, 6'4" Jonathan Moscatelli was a key contributor to the Gryphs win, going 4 for 5 from downtown (he is now 11 for his last 12 three point shots) to finish with 19 points as Guelph rallied from 3 down at halftime at home to remain undefeated. 6'7" Boris Bakovic had another 30+ point game, scoring 31 and adding 9 rebounds while 6'10" brother Igor Bakovic had 23 points/10 rebounds and 6'10" Joey Imbrogno added 17 points to keep Rye close. 6'4" Nick Pankerichan led Guelph with 21 points.

Queens (4-2) 61, Waterloo (1-5) 53 (with thanks to Curtis Dauber) In a ragged affair, the Gaels jumped out to an early 6 point lead about midway through the first quarter and the lead remained in that vicinity until the Gaels led 41-31 after three quarters. Queens had their long-range shooting going as despite hitting only 5 two pointers on the night, the Gaels nailed 13 three's and 12 foul shots. 6'3" Simon Mitchell had 14 points/7 rebounds while 6'6" Mitch Leger added 14 points/11 rebounds in the win. Waterloo simply could not put the ball in the basket. Queens collapsed inside taking away any advantage Waterloo might've had down there, and a 7-29 effort from behind the arc just wasn't good enough. Dan White led the way for Waterloo with 17 points 4 rebounds and 3 steals, Sinclair Brown had 11 and point guard Dave Burnett chipped in with 8 points and 7 rebounds.

Laurier (1-5) 91, RMC (0-6) 63 GOLDEN HAWKS GET FIRST WIN By Mike Quigley... The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks got into the win column for the first time in the 2007-08 OUA season with a 91-63 defeat of the RMC Paladins at the WLU AC on Saturday night. The loss leaves the Paladins as the only OUA team without a win in league play. The game opened much as one might imagine featuring two teams both looking for their first victory. Although it took the Golden Hawks 4:36 to score their first basket, they were only down 1-0 at the time. RMC scored to regain the lead, the Hawks countered with another basket and then the Paladins hit a 3 for their last lead of the game. Laurier’s shooters, who had struggled tremendously over the losing streak suddenly found their range, scoring on their final 7 possessions of the first quarter, including 3 successive 3's, to lead 21-11 after the 1st. The 2nd quarter has been a nightmare for the Hawks during this bad stretch, often scoring less than 10 points during the period. After scoring first, the Golden Hawks looked like they might run into similar difficulties, missing on 5 straight possessions including 2 turnovers and 0/2 from the foul line. However, back to back 3's gave the young team needed confidence. A 10-2 Hawks run after the 5:00 minute mark gave the Hawks a 39-21 lead. Laurier’s defense slipped a little during the final minute of the quarter giving up back to back open 3's but the Hawks took a 41-27 lead into the dressing room at the half. Laurier opened the 3rd quarter on fire scoring on their first 8 possessions to jump ahead 60-32 and take control of the game. Except for a couple of defensive breakdowns and 3 turnovers, the Hawks executed their game plan and led 70-45 at the end of 3 quarters. RMC did not give up and continued to battle the Hawks through each possession. Back to back to back 3 pointers cut the Hawk lead to 20 at 76-56 but that was as close as they came. The Hawks kept running which will be the key to this team’s success. It resulted in layups, open looks and trips to the foul line. In the end, the Hawks won all 4 quarters of the game, coming away with a 91-63 victory and finally getting into the win column. The Golden Hawks were led in scoring by Justin Golob (2nd yr., F, St. Catherines, ON) who finished with 20 points including 6/12 from behind the 3 point arc. Three Hawks, Trevor Csima (5th yr., post, Oakville, ON), Matthew Walker (4th yr., wing, Waterloo, ON) and Kale Harrison (1st yr., wing, Stratford, ON) added 14 points each while Dominique Brown (1st yr., wing, Woodbridge, ON) had 11. Harrison led the Hawks with 11 rebounds while Csima and Brown had 9 each. Jesse MacDonald (3rd yr., point guard, Brantford, ON) dished out 9 assists while Andrew Pennycook (2nd yr., post, Toronto, ON) blocked 5 shots. Andrew Cuff (3rd yr., point guard, Toronto, ON) led the Paladins with a game high 27 points, including 4 3's and 9/10 from the foul line. Simon Dakin ( 1st yr., F, Comox, BC) and Nicholas Cooke (1sr yr., F, Toronto, ON) led RMC with 7 rebounds each. The Hawks will now prepare to close out the first half of their season and the end of the crossover games with the OUA East when they host Laurentian University on Friday night and York University on Saturday night. Both games tip off at 8:00 pm at the WLU AC. Both these games have significant importance to certain members of the coaching staff.