Antigonish, NS – The defending national champion Calgary Dinos defeated the StFX X-Men 101-85 Friday afternoon on Coach K Court at the Oland Centre.
With a well-balanced offense, the Dinos had six players in the double scoring digits including Mambi Diawara (Montreal, QC) with 17 and Mason Foreman (East Selkirk, MB) off the bench with 16.
Despite the loss it was the home team X-Men who took the lead first in the game, starting with a 10-2 run keyed by a pair of early three pointers from Tristen Ross (Truro, NS), who would finish as the high scorer for the X-Men with 26 points.
Calgary forward Brett Layton (Calgary, AB) was strong in the paint early on for the visitors and they quickly got back in the game, tying it up 14-14 with under three minutes in the first quarter.
The Dinos held a 20-17 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play.
Jake Nielson (Cochrane, AB) hit a three-pointer early on in the third quarter to give the Dinos a five-point lead and they never looked back as they held on for the duration of the game.
Calgary made the X-Men pay for costly turnovers and held a 30-22 advantage midway through the second quarter.
David Kainga (Calgary, AB) sank consecutive three-pointers as they pulled away and opened up a 47-38 lead at half time.
Layton continued his strong play under the hoop in the third quarter and the Dinos built up their lead to 14 points early on. StFX closed the gap to 58-50 and 63-55 but this was as close as they would come as the Dino's three-point shooting kept them in the lead.
The score was 81-66 after three quarters and then Calgary built up a 20-point advantage in the final quarter of play on route to the 101-85 victory.
Kapinga, Luca Mannes (Chilliwack, BC) and Lars Schlueter (Ulm, Germany) all contributed 12 points apiece for the Dinos in the win. Local Antigonish, NS native Andrew Milner who was a fan favorite on the afternoon had four points in the game.
Daniel Passley (Mississauga, ON) netted 14 points for the X-Men while Azaro Roker (Nassau, Bahamas) scored 12 and Thomas Legallais (Cornwall, ON) added 10.
The Dinos move on to face AUS opponents Saint Mary's and Acadia on Saturday and Sunday in their Maritime exhibition swing. StFX will next be in action October 19-21 when they travel to Ontario for pre-season games against Toronto, McMaster and Ryerson.
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Courtesy StFX Sports Information