Dinos basketball duo helps power Canada to silver medal at Commonwealth Games

For David Kapinga and Mambi Diawara, it's been one heck of a shiny spring.

In March, along with their University of Calgary Dinos, they earned gold medals by knocking off the Ryerson Rams in a nail-biting classic at the U Sports men's basketball championship in Halifax.

A month later? Kapinga and Diawara were part of the Canadian contingent that bagged silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre Sunday in Australia.

Facing the home-court and powerhouse Aussies in the gold-medal showdown, the Canadians were toppled 87-47. At the half, they trailed 45-19.

Canada's 12-man entry was a U Sports select squad, which included six players from the Canada West conference — Justus Alleyn (Manitoba), Mamadou Gueye (Alberta), Conor Morgan (UBC), Grant Shephard (UBC), Kapinga, and Diawara. The roster was rounded out by five Ontario representatives and one from the Atlantic conference.

Kirby Schepp (Manitoba) and Kevin Hanson (UBC) coached the relatively inexperienced group.

"The whole experience of a large multi-sport games is special on so many levels," Schepp told Basketball.ca after the match. "You get to feel like you're a part of something bigger than just you and your team and their experience. That's kind of what our young guys are trying to get a piece of — that they are part of our national team program, which is a much bigger program.

"For them to come in here and put it together very, very quickly and get a silver medal, I'm really proud of this accomplishment. But I'm just happy that they were able to have that experience at the same time."

It had been a ground-breaking kind of season for the Dinos' fourth-year players from the Faculty of Arts.

Kapinga and Diawara played big parts of the first national title in the history of the Dinos' basketball program. And Sunday's outcome provided Canada with the first-ever basketball medal in its Commonwealth Games participation. (Then again, only once before, in 2006, had basketball been part of the Commonwealth Games menu, and Canada didn't enter a squad. Australia prevailed that year, too.)

"We came down here with a goal to medal in this tournament," Morgan said to Basketball.ca. "As a team, we have discussed it on a day-in and day-out basis. We are happy to have a silver. I guess it would have been a great upset if we had won gold."

The Dinos duo, in six tournament matches, combined for 55 points — 28 for Kapinga, 27 for Diawara.

In one semifinal, Australia had pummelled Scotland 103-46. On the other side, Canada narrowly defeated New Zealand 88-86, thanks to a buzzer-beating basket — very reminiscent of the Dinos' road to glory on March 11. That day it had been Diawara who supplied the heroic handiwork in the dying seconds.

Out of its four-team pool, Canada managed a 1-2 round-robin record. Diawara scored a team-high 10 points in the tourney-opening 95-55 loss to Australia, while Kapinga score a team-high 12 points in the 82-60 loss to New Zealand.

The Canadians dumped England 97-79 in their first elimination game to reach the semifinal stage.

Other athletes with UCalgary connections medalling in Australia include: wrestler Erica Wiebe (gold, 76-kilogram division), wrestler Danielle Lappage (silver, 68-kilogram division), gymnast Jackson Payne (silver, men's team competition), and track cyclist Allison Beveridge (bronze, women's team pursuit).