Off to a rough start

By Tom Zielinski

The Dinos men’s basketball teams stumbled out of the starting blocks with two losses to start off their regular season. The Dinos visited the University of Manitoba Bisons last weekend, dropping the first game 66-63 and the second one 67-59.

"Well, we can’t go undefeated," joked head coach Cory Russell. "Offensively, we struggled the whole weekend."

The two losses could be attributed to the Dinos’ lack of experience; the University of Manitoba Bisons have two fifth year players on their roster while the Dinos have only one and no fourth year players.

"We’re just not that experienced," explained Russell. "It’s a sensitive issue and we have to get over that."

Some of this weakness could be overcome if certain Dinos step up and play big. Third year player Chris Harris had a solid weekend scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 boards in Saturday night’s battle. "Chris Harris has been our most consistent player," noted Russell.

The Dinos will need Harris to continue his strong play if they wish to achieve success this year. Andrew Stordeur, who is playing his first year with the men’s basketball team has also played very consistently.

Other players need to step up as well. Wes Jickling had a mediocre performance last weekend. "It’s time that he steps up," responded Russell, who added that he would also like to see veteran player Brad Gallup improve.

With another season under way, the Dinos are practicing hard and looking to improve on last year’s record of 4-16. Not only do the Dinos hope to make the playoffs, players have set the goal of hosting a playoff game right here in the Jack Simpson Gymnasium. But the team will have to battle hard this weekend as they play host to the University of Victoria.