EDMONTON - The Bears went a scorching 18-for-39 from beyond the arc and shot 51.4% from the field in a dominant 108-80 victory over the rival Calgary Dinos Friday night at the Saville Centre.
Bears second-year guard Julian Vaughns led all scorers with 21 points, including a 5-for-6 mark from three, in what was a major breakout game. He was closely followed with great performances from Bears captain Brandon Meiklejohn and rookie Isaac Simon who had 19 and 13 points, respectively.
The Dinos were led in the box score by second-year guards Parker Johnstone and Aidan Smith who paced the team with 16 points.
The Bears bounce back after a tough winless opening weekend in Manitoba to move to 1-2 on the young campaign, while the Dinos have their first loss of the year and sit at 2-1.
Alberta led the entire contest and it was a truly complete win; leading the Dinos in rebounds, blocks, assists, steals, and had less turnovers.
The Bears started strong, going on a 9-2 run in the first five minutes that was punctuated by a Lars Ishimwe steal and one-handed dunk. The Bears would get into foul trouble early, sending the Dinos to the line 12 times in the first quarter of which they would hit nine. Thanks to a six point quarter from Julian Vaughns, however, the Bears would escape the quarter up 23-17.
Vaughns and Meiklejohn would trade threes early in the second to put the hosts up 31-21. While the Dinos defence was ferocious at times, they also put Alberta in the bonus early leading to a 9-for-9 effort from the line for the hosts in the quarter. Vaughans was on fire from behind the arc, hitting a deep three at the Pandas logo with thirty seconds remaining to put a cherry on a 55-39 lead at halftime.
The second-year guard Vaughns led all scorers at the break with 16 points, shooting the lights out with a four for five mark beyond the arc. The Bears as a team were 10-for-20 from three, while Calgary also had a phenomenal mark at 4-for-9. One of the main differences between the squads came from the bench, where Alberta's substitutes outscored the Dinos 24-10.
If the first half was the appetizer, the third quarter was most certainly the main course for the Bears. They shot 52% from the field including a 4-for-10 mark from behind the arc, while holding the Dinos to shoot just 33%. They went on a 12-0 run near the end of the quarter, largely sprung by three baskets in quick succession from Bears rookie Isaac Simon who had a quarter-high nine points. They would exit the quarter with a cavernous 81-56 advantage.
Adam Paige and Vaughns would hit successive threes early in the fourth to open the largest lead of the day at 87-63 to all but put the game out of reach. It would finish 108-80 in quite the bounce-back performance from the hosts.
The teams return to action tomorrow night in the last regular season matchup between the squads.
