Box Score Box Score

Nick Lother's staggering 43-point performance powered the University of Winnipeg's men's basketball team to a 93-76 road win over the Regina Cougars on Friday night in Game 2 of the best-of-three Great Plains Division semifinal series.

Winnipeg's win ties the series at one game apiece and forces a third and deciding game, which will be played on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Friday's game started out looking a lot like the first game of the series, with the Cougars jumping out to an early lead which reached as many as nine points in the first quarter. Led by Lother and Peter Lomuro, the Wesmen battled back and held a one-point lead at halftime, then extended that lead to five after three quarters. Winnipeg poured it on down the stretch against the hometown Cougars, leading by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.

After being held to 12 points on Thursday night, Lother showed why he's one of the conference's most dangerous scorers on Friday. His 43 points are a career high and are the most scored by a player in a Canada West postseason game since UBC's Kyle Russell dropped 43 on Alberta back in 2003. Lother was 14-for-21 from the field, 6-for-8 from three-point land, and 9-for-12 from the free throw line. The third-year guard also had seven rebounds, five assists, and five steals.

Lomuro, who was also impressive in Game 1, had 26 points on Friday night for the Wesmen. Mike James had 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists for Winnipeg, while Jeff Shynkaryk was huge on the defensive side of the ball with eight rebounds and a game-high six blocks.

All five starters got into double digits in points for the Cougars, led by Jamal Williams' 21. Kris Heshka (14), Jeff Lukomski (13), Jordan McFarlen (10), and Paul Schubach (10) also scored at least ten for Regina. McFarlen added a career-high 12 rebounds to record his first double-double as a Cougar, while Heshka grabbed 10 boards to register his eighth double-double of the season.

The winner of Saturday night's game will move on to play Brandon in the best-of-three Great Plains Division final. That series gets underway in Brandon beginning Feb. 20.