Wesmen drop Dinos, advance to men’s basketball semifinal

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This article was published 14/02/2026 (206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Wesmen were one of the best teams in the country on home court this season, and while a late surge threatened that trend in the biggest game of the year, the nationally ranked No. 3 program showed its mettle on Saturday.

The top-seeded Wesmen, aided by the benefit of playing on full rest, withstood a resilient effort from the ninth-seeded Calgary Dinos to earn an 82-69 victory in the Canada West conference men’s hoops quarterfinals at the Duckworth Centre.

Winnipeg never trailed in the contest and pulled away for brief stretches, but Calgary never allowed the hosts to slam the door shut. Calgary cut the deficit to six with a little over three minutes remaining, but ultimately ran out of gas.

“It’s a game of runs. We gave ourselves a pretty good cushion in the first half, we played pretty well,” said guard Kato Jaro, who packed the stats sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals. “They came out firing, but because we had that gap, that allowed us to move comfortably.”

The Wesmen held leads of 25-14, 42-30 and 65-54 at each break.

“It’s absolutely pivotal,” Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault said of his team playing with home-court advantage and the benefit of watching the Dinos a day earlier.

The Dinos outlasted Thompson Rivers in Friday’s play-in but faced a tough turnaround against a strong Wesmen squad.

“For us to have played one game, and they had to play two — I thought they had some good looks down the stretch of the game where maybe, if they were a little more rested, maybe they make one or two more of those and the gap is shortened a little bit,” Raimbault added.

“For us, we were able to play with big-time effort on the glass at the end of the game, and that’s hard to do in a back-to-back situation, so the home court advantage is certainly an advantage.”

Alberto Gordo led the Wesmen offence with a 20-point, 15-rebound double-double and five assists.

The Wesmen’s balanced attack — they had five players average double-digits in points per game — was just that once again as five different players scored at least 10 points, including starters Gordo, Jaro, Ryan Luke (13) and Malachi Alexander (10), and forward Elijah Mensah, who contributed 13 off the bench.

“The truth is, they typically only play about seven deep. You’re gonna have five guys that have double figures, or they’re not gonna put up the 80 points that they have,” said Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren.

“The fact is that they’re older, they’ve played together a long time, they’re well balanced, and so there really isn’t a lot of flaws you can play with other than that depth that we thought may be that would be an issue for them, and they still ran out on us in transition. So that’s disappointing for us.”

The transition game proved to be a deciding factor in the contest, as Calgary struggled to recover after Winnipeg’s defensive rebounds. The Wesmen outscored the Dinos 24-2 in fast-break points.

“We definitely had a concerted plan to play with a particular pace,” said Raimbault. “If we were able to get stops, if we could get down there and get opportunities before they were able to set their zone, it was important to us, and really that starts with making defensive plays and being connected at the defensive end of the floor. So trying to control that early portion of offence and win that phase was certainly a key for us.”

First-year guard Mrigendra Dhaliwal was the Dinos’ offence in the first half. Dhaliwal accounted for 19 of the Dinos’ 30 points in the first act on eight-of-10 shooting from the field, including connecting on three three-pointers.

Raimbault made a concerted effort to ensure that wouldn’t happen again after the intermission. Dhaliwal managed five points in the second half.

“We talked about some of the situations where he was getting an advantage, and we wanted to be a little bit more physical with him in the second half,” he said. “He was coming off some downhill handoffs, and obviously, he can raise up and make plays with his jumper, so we wanted to be a little bit more physical with him and stay attached. And I thought we pushed him a little bit further from the bucket, at least. He still made some great plays in the second half, but we wanted to put a little more focus into where he was.”

Fellow Dinos guard Daniels Baumanis supplied 15 points. Baumanis was leaned upon greatly down the stretch as veteran guard Beckett Johnson exited the contest late in the third quarter with an apparent lower-body injury.

With the loss, the Dinos’ pursuit for a Canada West championship is over, but their season isn’t. As hosts of this year’s national championship tournament (March 6-8), Calgary’s spot in the final eight is already secure.

The Wesmen return to the conference semifinals after bowing out in the quarterfinals a season ago. They host the fourth-seeded UBC Thunderbirds back at Duckworth Centre on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

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