Men’s Basketball

By Lawrence Bailey

No one said it was going to be easy. Anytime you play the number one team in the country in their own house, you know you’re in tough. But, Dumbo had a feather that let him fly and the Dinos men’s basketball team rolled up to Edmonton equipped with the knowledge that they were the only team to knock off the vaunted University of Alberta Golden Bears so far this year.

Well, sometimes confidence isn’t enough.

While they did put their best foot forward Jan. 25–26 in the city of governmental incompetence, the Golden Bears showed one and all why they are the top team in the country.

The Bears play a complete game, and this weekend they dominated with their defence, holding the Dinos to 54 points Friday night. More notably, only four points came from non-starters-all courtesy of forward Chris Wright. Four points coupled with six personal fouls-definitely not a recipe for success. The 20-point margin of victory was the result of complete dominance by the Bears in the second half, where they outscored the Dinos 42–23.

Saturday brought a better effort, a better game, but the same result. The Dinos managed a much improved 78 points, but the Golden Bears countered with 90 to win the game handily.

The losses dealt a tough blow to the Dinos playoff hopes and the schedule offers no relief as next week’s opponent is the 12–4 Simon Fraser University Clan. A split is almost an absolute minimum since the season has entered the home stretch.