Dinos steal win away from McGill in CIS showdown
Calgary’s ‘ Mr. Everything’ nails down victory with late free throws
A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Thomas Cooper is proud to be something he never imagined earlier in his basketball career — an All- Canadian.
He became the first national allstar from the University of Calgary in 20 years this season and is referred to glowingly as “Mr. Everything” by the Dinos’ enthralled sports information department.
“Sometimes your best recruiter is your best player,” said Calgary coach Dan Vanhooren, now off to the semifinals of the CIS Final 8 for the fourth time in his career following a 72- 69 win over the McGill Redmen Thursday evening at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the campus of the University of B. C.
The Dinos will play either the host UBC Thunderbirds or the No. 1 ranked Ryerson Rams in one of two semifinals on Saturday.
The T- Birds and Rams met in a late game to decide the fourth semifinalist after the Carleton Ravens and Dalhousie Tigers qualified in earlier games.
Cooper was recommended to the Dinos by a former associate of Vanhooren’s who played junior college basketball with the Tennessean at City College of San Francisco. Calgary actually is the fourth collegiate stop for the basketball nomad. Cooper also played as a University of Nebraska- Kearney Loper and a Carolina A& T Aggie.
“There have just been a bunch of unfortunate events — coaches getting fired, programs breaking down, all that type of stuff,” Cooper explained.
“It was never anything about me personally. I’ve had a lot of turns in the road. But this is the best place for me. Definitely, I love it.”
A six- foot- five guard, Cooper’s 25.8 points- per- game was the best in Canada West Conference since the 2010 season — and second best in the nation.
Thursday night against the Redmen, he scored a team- high 21 points, though 14 of that total came in the first half. Indeed, McGill did such an effective job of keying on Cooper and clogging his lanes to the basket that it appeared as if Calgary’s trip to the west coast could be one- one- done.
With McGill ahead 61- 60 in the fourth quarter, the Dinos managed just one field goal over the final six minutes.
At the line, however, they were a perfect 10- for- 10 over that same stretch, with Cooper nailing down the victory on a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds left. He went to the line after stealing the ball from McGill guard Tychon Carter- Newman and drew a foul in response.
“It was a huge steal,” Vanhooren said. “Thomas has been big for us at the end of games. As a fourth- year guy, with his experience, we look to him to lead us in those situations. He did it again.”
Guard David Kapinga also contributed four thefts down the stretch for the Dinos, who know they literally stole away with a victory.
“We’re going to have to play better offensively on Saturday if we’re to be successful,” Vanhooren admitted. “We had 17 turnovers. We’re not moving the ball well enough to win against opponents like Ryerson and UBC. We need to be better prepared.”
And Calgary’s Mr. Everything will need all of that again.