Photo credit Rich Lam, UBC Athletics

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- All-Canadian guard Thomas Cooper scored 21 points, including two insurance baskets after a late-game steal that forced a foul and secured the victory, as the fourth-seeded Calgary Dinos rallied in the final 30 seconds to defeat No. 5 McGill 72-69 in a tense quarter-final battle at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Men's Basketball championship tournament, Thursday, before 1,250 at UBC's Doug Mitchell Sports Centre.

The loss eliminated McGill from medal contention as the Redmen will face host UBC, in a consolation semifinal on Friday at 10 p.m. (Eastern;  www.CIS-SIC.tv) and a chance to contend for fifth place.

The Redmen appeared poised for victory with 63 seconds to go, when Dele Ogundokun made a jump shot from beyond the arc to give McGill a 69-66 lead. But Calgary quickly narrowed the gap to one when Cooper, the Canada West scoring champ and MVP, fed David Kapinga for a layup to cut the deficit to 69-68 with 46 seconds left. On the next Redmen possession, Tychon Carter-Newman was called for traveling, and the Dinos' Jhony Verrone drew a foul at the other end. The Dinos then took a 70-69 lead on a pair of freebies from the Montreal native, who atoned for an early technical foul, with 26.4 seconds on the clock. The ensuing in-bound play from McGill led to the game-clinching steal by Cooper with 9.8 seconds left.

"I'm extremely disappointed in the way we finished the game," admitted McGill head coach David DeAveiro. "We've gone over that drill a million times in terms of how we want to finish -- to turn it over two times and give up a lay-up is extremely disappointing. That's not how it's supposed to go, it's not how we drilled it. We do this drill every day in practice."

As is often the case when teams from the Quebec-based RSEQ conference advance to Nationals, McGill found themselves at a severe disadvantage at the free-throw line, making only 11 trips to the charity stripe (where they managed just five successful baskets), compared to Calgary, which made 26 visits and came away with 21 points, including an impeccable 10-for-10 performance in the final frame.

"I'm not a coach who calls a time-out down the stretch," added DeAveiro. "Because we've done this every day in practice, so we don't need to call a time-out to run the play. (But instead) we just turn the ball over, and as a result they win. I think we turned the ball over 19 times for 20 points tonight. Take those 20 points, you take the 21 points from the free-throw line. I thought we defended and played extremely hard. As well as (Calgary) played, I'm disappointed that with those two stats, we put them in a good position to win."

Cooper, a 6-foot-5 guard from Chattanooga, Tenn., led the game in both points and rebounds. He shot 6-for-17 from the floor, including 2-for-5 from three-point range and went 7-for-10 from the line. Eight of his nine boards were in the defensive zone and he was credited with one assist and a pair of steals.

Ogundokun, a third-year management student from Hamilton, Ont., was named as McGill's player of the game and tallied a team-high 19 points. He was 8-for-14 from the field and 3-for-8 from downtown, with two treys coming during the final four minutes. He was also credited with five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one blocked.

Jenning Leung, a 6-foot-1 guard from the Philippines, scored 15 points for the Redmen and led all players in both steals and assists, with five of each. The third-year psychology student also grabbed three rebounds. He sank half of his 10 attempts from the arc and was 5-for-16 overall, but missed two late-game chances from the stripe.

"We came here to win the title this year, we didn't come to play for fifth or sixth, we came here to win," added DeAveiro. "To not execute down the stretch is extremely frustrating. As good as Calgary is, we can't help Calgary win games, and I thought tonight we helped Calgary win this game."

McGill led 19-15 after the first quarter, but was outscored 25-19 in the second and trailed 40-38 at the half. The Dinos maintained a 55-52 edge after three. The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair featuring four lead changes, and the fourth quarter was more of the same, with the lead changing hands six times. But it was the Dinos who were the more composed team in the dying seconds.

"I was thrilled with (the team)," said Calgary coach Dan Vanhooren. "They did what we drew. They ran the "down-screen" that we wanted a couple times, they ran the "side-out", which we call (at the end of the game) and we got the ball to the right person, and that's what we're trying to do."

The Dinos had a 34-30 rebounding advantage, an 11-7 lead in steals, a 19-17 margin in turnovers and a 2-1 difference in blocks.

"At the end of the game, getting to the line 10 times (in the fourth quarter) was about knowing that (McGill) had foul trouble," Vanhooren explained. "They were in the bonus situation, so we were attacking the rim. The last couple possessions that's all we talked about in the time-out, was creating an opportunity for a mini close-out and then attacking the basket to see if we could create a foul shot opportunity."

The Redmen shot 45 per cent from the floor (27/60) and went 10-for-26 from three-point range, while Calgary shot 42.6 (23/54) and sank five of 16 trey attempts.

Vanhooren nonetheless had praise for the opposition after the hard-fought game.

"I think (the Redmen are) a tremendous basketball club," he said. "I think they're very well-coached and I have a great deal of respect for how they play. They executed well, they defend incredibly well and they work really hard on the glass. That says a lot about the leadership on their team and their coaching staff. I think that they're a wonderful basketball team and we were fortunate to get out of that one, to be honest."

The Dinos advance to play No.1 Ryerson, which outlasted No.8 UBC in overtime, in the semis at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, live on Sportsnet 360 and www.CIS-SIC.tv.

 

STAT LEADERS

CGY 15-25-15-17: 72
MCG 19-19-14-17: 69

Calgary
Points: Thomas Cooper (21), Jhony Verrone (12), David Kapinga (11)
Rebounds: Cooper (9)
Assists: Kapinga (2), Lars Schlueter (2)

McGill
Points: Dele Ogundokun (19), Jenning Leung (15)
Rebounds: Vincent Dufort (6)
Assists: Leung (5)

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times PACIFIC)

Thursday, March 17
13:00 Quarter-final 1: Carleton 91, Thompson Rivers 75
15:00 Quarter-final 2: Dalhousie 87, Ottawa 83
18:00 Quarter-final 3: Calgary 72, McGill 69
20:00 Quarter-final 4: Ryerson 109, UBC 101

Friday, March 18
17:00 Consolation 1: Thompson Rivers vs. Ottawa (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Consolation 2: McGill vs. UBC (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Saturday, March 19
12:00 5th-place game between winners of consolation round (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Semifinal 1: Carleton vs. Dalhousie (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
17:30 Semifinal 2: Calgary vs. Ryerson (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *

Sunday, March 20
14:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
17:30 Final (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *

* Webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis.