VICTORIA, B.C. – The fourth-seeded University of Calgary handed top-seeded University of Victoria its first loss of the 2024-25 season, 77-68, in the semifinal round of the Canada West playoffs Friday night at CARSA Performance Gym.

The Dinos (16-4, 2-0) will advance to the Canada West title game for the first time since 2019, while the playoff run for the Vikes (20-0, 1-1) likely comes to an end with the loss.

Nate Petrone led the Dinos with a 23-point performance, adding nine rebounds and a team-high five assists for Calgary. Renoldo Robinson was the top scorer for Victoria, ending the night with 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

"We knew we had to win the possession game," began Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren. "We'd given up 10 offensive rebounds and eight turnovers after the first quarter and were still in it, which helped our confidence. In the third quarter, we started actually doing what we talked about, and it showed that if we can keep the ball, we can score it. I'm super proud of our kids."

Victoria went ahead in the opening minutes of the game, taking advantage of forcing seven Calgary turnovers over the first five minutes of play to a take a 9-2 lead on Griffin Arnatt's second three-pointer of the night with 4:45 on the clock. Working their way back in, the Dinos used a Petrone jumper and two-straight buckets from Gurshan Sran to take the lead, 12-11, with 48 seconds to play in the opening quarter. In the last 10 seconds, a Shadynn Smid layup for the Vikes was met by one from Noah Wharton to give Calgary the 14-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

A quick seven points from the Dinos over the first minute and a half of the second quarter put the visiting side up by nine, 22-13, eventually growing their lead to 12 at 26-14 on a Petrone layup with 5:38 still on the clock. A driving layup from Renoldo Robinson broke the Vikes' scoring drought and was the start of a 7-0 Vikes run that pulled the home side back within four on an Ethan Boag put-back to make it 30-26 with 36 seconds to go until halftime. Wharton put the final points of the second frame on the board via free throws to make the halftime score 32-26 in favour of the Dinos.

It was all Calgary to start the third as the Dinos opened on an 11-0 run capped by a Wharton three to take a 41-26 lead with just over six minutes to go in the third. Though Boag hit a three to get the Vikes back on the board, the Dinos worked their way to a 20-point cushion at 57-37 on a Petrone three with 1:22 to go. Four Vikes points from Robinson to a Petrone layup gave Calgary the 59-41 lead at the end of the third after outscoring the Vikes 27-15 in the frame.

After the eight turnovers in the first quarter and 11 in the first half, Calgary turned it over just once in the third and shot 10-18 from the floor – including 3-5 from three – in the frame to help spark the big run.

Victoria left it all on the floor in the fourth quarter, opening the quarter on a 9-2 run to bring Calgary's lead down to 12 at 61-49 with seven and a half minutes to play. Continuing to chip away at the lead, a three-pointer by Geoffrey James, a Sam Maillet layup, a Smid three and a Robinson driving layup cut Calgary's lead to just 66-62 with 2:49 to play. Two free throws from Wharton and two-straight scores from Declan Peterson stretched Calgary's lead back out to 74-65 with 21 seconds to play, paving the way for the Dinos to seal the semifinal win, 77-68. 

"We showed what we could do in the fourth quarter, going from being down 20 to making it a one-possession game," noted Vikes head coach Murphy Burnatowski. "Calgary is a good veteran team with good veteran leadership that wasn't going to allow their team to lose a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter. We just needed to do more earlier in the game."

This marks the first home loss by Victoria since Nov. 4, 2023 when the Dinos handed the Vikes an 88-79 win back on the opening weekend of last season.

Calgary will face the winner of the #3 UBC/ #2 Manitoba semifinal on the road next weekend in the battle for the Canada West banner. With the win, the Dinos have also clinched a berth to the U SPORTS Final 8, set to be hosted at UBC, March 13-16.

-UC-