Box Score Box Score

Paul Gareau poured in 35 points and Jeff Lukomski nearly matched him with 34 as the University of Regina's men's basketball team took a 93-79 win over Thompson Rivers on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Though the Cougars ended up with a 14-point victory, the game was a tight affair down the stretch. It looked like Regina might run away with the game after opening up a lead that reached as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but Thompson Rivers fought back with a 12-3 run that brought them to within four points early in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars were able to hold onto the lead down the stretch, quelling the WolfPack run and pulling away from Thompson Rivers with three consecutive buckets – including a three-point dagger by Marek Downarowicz with 56 seconds left to put them up by 11.

“I wasn't pleased with our defence in the first half, but I was encouraged by the way we handled the end of the game,” Cougars coach James Hillis said. “We fought through some foul trouble in the second half, and got some great contributions off the bench from guys like Matt Campbell.”

Gareau was 15-for-22 from the field and pulled down 11 rebounds to register his fourth double-double of the season. He was also a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and played 39 of the game's 40 minutes. Lukomski did most of his damage from the three-point line, as he hit nine treys and broke his own school single-game record with 20 attempts from downtown.

Chas Kok had a fine game for Thompson Rivers, scoring a team-high 22 points and adding 10 rebounds to secure one of his team's two double-doubles. Kok, who was also 4-for-8 from the three-point line, had six assists in 39 minutes of floor time. Greg Stewart had the WolfPack's other double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down a game-high 19 boards. Kevin Pribilsky also had four threes and ended up with 18 points, while Brett Parker chipped in with 10.

The Cougars improve to 8-5 with the win, moving ahead of Manitoba for fifth place in the Canada West standings after the Bisons lost to Saskatchewan on Friday. Thompson Rivers falls to 2-13 with the loss.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night following the conclusion of the women's game.

NOTES: Friday marked just the second time since the Cougars joined Canada West prior to the 2001-02 season that two U of R players have scored at least 30 points in the same game … the only other time it happened in a Canada West game was when Tyler Wright scored 33 and Ryan Michell had 31 in a 91-89 home win over Winnipeg back on Nov. 11, 2001 … Gareau's 15 field goals trail only Wright in the U of R single-game record book, who had 16 in the aforementioned victory over the Wesmen … Lukomski's nine three-pointers tie for second in the school's Canada West history, while his 26 field goal attempts rank third in the single-season record book … Lukomski needs 13 points to pass Joel Hunter for fourth place on the U of R's all-time list and 16 to surpass Chris Biegler for third.