Box Score LETHBRIDGE - As all avid sports know, not all games are created equal, and Friday night’s game at the 1^st Choice Savings Centre between the University of Lethbridge Pronghorn’s men’s basketball team and the University of Calgary Dinos definitely fell on the more important end of that ranking spectrum.  With both teams trying to chisel out a playoff spot and feeding off a divisional and proximal rivalry, the stakes, both real and imagined, were much higher than in a, should we say, ‘regular’ regular season game.   The 1300+ fans got their money’s worth, treated to a playoff atmosphere and a game in which the home team’s lead never seemed secure enough to lose interest in.  Ultimately, the ‘Horn were able to hold onto their lead long enough to add another tally to the win column, edging out a 90-80 victory over the visiting Dinos.
 
Former Dino, Dom Coward, led all scorers and rebounders while achieving his sixth double-double of the season in an impressively well-rounded 21 point, 15 rebound, 3 block-performance that carried the ‘Horns to victory.  In an impressive display of distribution, all five ‘Horns starters landed themselves in double figures on the scoresheet, with LCI-product, Julian Spearchief-Morris, shooting a deadly 5-7 from three-range to rack up 19 points and Morgan Duce and Derek Waldner chipping in 14 and 13 respectively.  Point guard Daryl Cooper passed around an invaluable 11 assists while adding 10 points of his own.
 
The Dinos were led by the second half surge of recently returned point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson with 18 points.  Fellow injury returnee, Boris Bakovic added 15 and Tyler Fidler contributed 14 and both nabbed seven rebounds.  Keenan Milburn also added 14.
 
Coming off of a pair of close losses to the eighth-ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears last weekend, the ‘Horns got off to a rousing start in their own gym, featuring three successful three-balls by Spearchief-Morris inside five minutes of play.   Though the ‘Horns expanded their lead to nine in the first stanza, a 7-2 run by the Dinos to close out the quarter cut the home team’s lead to three. 
 
Calgary gained a brief lead coming out of the second quarter starting gates but a Cooper dish for a Waldner dunk swung the momentum in the ‘Horns’ favor and they amassed an eleven point lead heading into the locker rooms for the break.
 
The ‘Horns maintained a comfortable distance in the third quarter, despite historically opening the second half somewhat flat.  An Alex Fletcher trey stretched the lead to 16 with three minutes left to play in the period, but the Dinos engineered a 9-0 run to close it out, leaving the ‘Horns with an uncomfortable seven point lead going into the fourth.

Despite a lack of lead changes in the fourth quarter, the Dinos refused to be extinguished, clawing back within four points several times before the final buzzer sounded.   The ‘Horns, however, buoyed by a thunderous home crowd, found an answer for each of the charges mounted by the Dinos.  With the lead cut to five by three consecutive Ogungbemi-Jackson jumpers, Duce spun in a layup around 6’9” Fidler, sparking a ‘Horns rally to expand the lead to 11 with seven minutes left to play.  The Dinos and ‘Horns traded three pointers until Coward’s savvy defense resulted in a charge by Bakovic that sent him to the bench with five fouls.   Even without their star forward, the Dinos stayed within one or two possessions as the clock wound down until Coward sealed the win over his former team with two consecutive scores, highlighted by a drive that began at half court and ended in a reverse finger roll to push the lead to 86-80 with one minute to play.  The ‘Horns maintained control through the dwindling second and hung on to add to their win column with a 90-80 victory.
 
“Basketball is just a game of runs and winning is kind of a matter of managing them,” fourth year guard, Spearchief-Morris, reflected.  “They had some pretty big runs in the second half and I thought we weathered them pretty well.” 
With the win the ‘Horns improve to 6-7, while the Dinos fall two games behind the ‘Horns for the fourth and final playoff spot at 4-9.
 
The ‘Horns will obviously look to build on their run tomorrow night, while the Dinos will try to rally to create a run of their own as the two teams meet again at the 1^st Choice Saving Centre.  The drama continues tomorrow night at 8 pm.  The game will be webcast on canadawest.tv.