BRANDON - The Brandon Bobcats dropped a 78-68 decision against the CIS eighth-ranked Calgary Dinos on Friday night at the Healthy Living Centre in Canada West men's basketball action.
 
The BU men's team got off to a good start and led 13-11 at the end of the first quarter, but Calgary carried all the momentum to close out the half and held a 41-27 advantage at the break.
 
The Dinos were up 61-44 entering the fourth quarter, but Brandon chipped away at that deficit and trailed by 10 with 4:45 remaining, however the comeback could not be completed by the home side.
 
Earl Thompson Jr. poured in a game-high 28 points, while teammate D.J. Jordan added 18 points for the Bobcats, who slipped to 0-and-9 on the season.
 
"I think we played hard the whole time. We had some mental lapses that hurt us in the end. Once we break that pattern I think we are going to start winning games," said Thompson Jr. "It gave us a bit of confidence today (Friday) that they are ranked so high and we competed with them. I think we can take advantage of that in the next game and have some confidence going into tomorrow (Saturday)."
 
Calgary had three players in double-digits with David Kapinga collecting a team-high 18 points.
 
Lars Schlueter scored 16 points and Thomas Cooper added 11 points as the Dinos extended their winning streak to five straight games and improved to 9-and-3 overall.
 
The Bobcats and Dinos meet again on Saturday night with the rematch set for a 7 p.m. start.