In their first tournament against competitors their own age, the Calgary Jr. Dinos won the Sheep River Shootout in Okotoks, AB this past weekend. In a dominating performance, the Jr. Dinos captured the U-17 A division in style defeating the powerhouse club team out of Saskatchewan, the Jr. Huskies, 94-75 in the finals.

In the first round, the Dinos were matched-up against the Edmonton Grads Basketball Club based out of Edmonton, AB. After waiting an extra 10 minutes due to traffic problems by the Grads, the Jr. Dinos started slow, but quickly jumped out to an insormountable lead. The Dinos balanced attack was way too much for the Grads to handle, with the final score being 113-58. The Jr. Dinos were led by the unbelievable play of Andrew Wytsma. Andy racked up 32 points, 15 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards to pace the Jr. Dinos attack. Cam Perry was also tremendous scoring 25 points including 6 three point field goals, and 2 dunks. Strong play was also put up by Brennen Fule, and point guards Mike Laffin, Doron Nand, and Matt Urbanowski who pushed the play for the entire game creating the pace the Dinos wanted to play. Defensively, the Dinos had over 15 steals using the full court pressure to totally halt the Grads attack.

In the Semi-final game, the Jr. Dinos played the Bert Church Chargers out of Airdrie. A familiar foe, the Jr. Dinos knew that the Chargers would give a huge effort against them. However, using a stifling defense and spurting out to a 28–1 lead, the Jr. Dinos left the Chargers in the dust winning 84-46. The Jr. Dinos were led by the outstanding effort of post Adam Lonseth who scored 23 points, and grabbed 13 rebounds all on terrific hustle. Adam Shaw out of Grande Prairie, AB, who had a terrific all around tournament for the Jr. Dinos scored 16 points including 4 steals and 4 rebounds. Logan Armstrong out of Youngstown, AB had a great game as well scoring 13 points and playing terrific defense. This win set up the match-up against the Jr. Huskies in the final.

Outsized upfront, the Jr. Dinos looked to be outmatched by the much bigger Jr. Huskies. However, the work of starting post players Andrew Wytsma and Adam Lonseth was the difference in the game. Both standing at around 6′3″, Andy and Adam used their superior athleticism, hustle, and outside/inside game to stop their opponent and led the Dinos to the 94-75 victory. Andy and Adam both scored 25 points in the final game, and both had at least 10 rebounds to seal the victory.

Leading 37-31 at half, the Dinos exploded in one portion of the second half going on a 15-0 run in a 2 minute span leaving the Huskies in their wake. Superb defense, and superb depth helped the Dinos capture their first tournament victory of the summer. Strong games were also had by Cam Perry who scored 15 points in just over 15 minutes of action due to foul trouble, and Adam Shaw who scored 11. Outstanding defensive efforts were put up by Dave Ness, who guarded the most athletic player in the tournament for most of the game, and Logan Armstrong who did a terrific job on the glass.

Next up for the Jr. Dinos is playoff action against the Old Chargers in the Airdrie Spring League on Monday June 6 at 7:15. Congratulations Jr. Dinos!