Calgary, AB — A Saturday night on Kenyon Court and Mount Royal University's men's basketball team held a rematch against The University of Calgary Dinos. The Cougars fell short to the Dinos despite late efforts by tonight's scoring leaders, Sam Barnie, Kole Scott, and Keivonte Watts.

Dylan Lutes ignited some energy for the Dinos off the tipoff as Lutes scored two layups and a block in a consecutive run. The Dinos had a dominant start as the team put up 9 points within 2 minutes of the first quarter. Kuach Gajak opted for a triple to open the Cougars' first points of the night. However, the three-point arc was a bit of an obstacle for both teams as each struggled to knock down their shots. With this, there was a 2 minute period between the Dinos and Cougars sharing a cold run on the offensive side. Daniels Baumanis broke this scoreless run by scoring a three-pointer, sending the Dinos up 17-8.  Returning from a Cougars timeout, Barnie immediately put up a quick 2 points off the inbound play. Daniel Mulder entered the game and quickly earned a three-point play after drawing contact from a Dinos defender. The Cougars trailed by 7 points at the end of the first quarter, with Scott and Lutes contributing 8 points for their respective teams.

Kuach Gajak had a huge block on a Dinos' layup attempt, halting their opponents' momentum and allowing the Cougars to regain possession. Then, Lutes cashed in his first triple of the night, pushing the Dinos up to a 10-point lead, 33-23. However, subsequent Dinos errors led to Avnoor Bhullar capitalizing on two steals, one layup, and two free throws. With Aidan Smith draining his second three-point shot and Nate Petrone scoring back-to-back layups, it triggered a Cougars timeout at the halfway mark of the second period. Afterwards, Scott's efforts paid off and racked in 4 points to cut the Cougars deficit down to 9 points. Seconds before the second period came to an end, Watts drew the contact from Martynas Sabaliauskas. Watts made both free throws off this play. Before Watts' free throws, Sabaliauskas received a technical foul, which allowed MRU to score 3 points before halftime, 46-38 for the Dinos.

With none of his teammates open, Lutes chose to take the deep three and make the shot as both teams resumed play into the second half. Barnie returned a subsequent triple, keeping the Cougars within 8 points behind the Dinos. Unfortunately, Gajak had to exit the game about 3 minutes into the third quarter due to injury. Declan Peterson made some noise after making a dunk, creating a 15 point lead over the Cougars. Then, Watts sparked some light for the Cougars after turning a layup into a three-point play at the charity stripe, 64-50 for the Dinos. This ignited Jean-Nelson Pigoue to get a layup of his own and followed by Watts, once again, to knock down a triple. Lutes continued to rise up for the Dinos as he scored his 18th point and extended his team to a 13 point lead to enter the last quarter, 68-55.

The Cougars offense took a hit in the fourth period but DJ Roberts stepped up to the occasion. Roberts scored 7 points where his first three-point jumper and layup were consecutive shots, causing the Dinos to call a timeout. Coming off that timeout, Watts received the inbound to score a clutch three-pointer and decrease the Cougars deficit to 14 points. Additionally, Watts continued to muscle through contact on his drives, resulting in 4 free points at the line. Despite a total of 12 points put up by Watts and Barnie in the fourth quarter, it was not enough to push past the Dinos. Petrone brought down 8 points while Peterson scored 10 points in the final stretch of this matchup. The final score was 95-81 for the Dinos.

Tonight's players of the game were Kole Scott and Nate Petrone. Scott scored 16 points, earned 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Petrone earned 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists in tonight's rematch. 

The Cougars return to Kenyon Court on February 7th to play against The University of Alberta Golden Bears.