Box Score Box Score

The University of Regina's men's basketball team opened up an 18-point lead after the first quarter and led by 23 at the half, then nearly gave it all away before coming up with an 83-80 road win over the Winnipeg Wesmen on Friday night.

The Cougars outscored the Wesmen by a 30-12 margin in the first and held a 45-22 advantage at the half, but Winnipeg came on strong in the second half. Two 10-2 runs by the Wesmen - one late in the third quarter and another midway through the fourth - almost completely erased the lead, but the Cougars were able to hold off Winnipeg down the stretch to improve to 9-6 on the season.

Paul Gareau led Regina in scoring for the third consecutive game, scoring 28 points and adding a team-leading 10 rebounds. The third-year forward now ranks fifth in the conference with an average of 18.1 points per game.

Jeff Lukomski was 4-for-6 from three-point land and ended up with 15 points and a game-high eight assists, while Kris Heshka scored 14 and Marek Downarowicz chipped in with 11.

Lynden Drayton-Barrow led Winnipeg (2-13) with 16 points, while Benny Iko led all players with 13 rebounds.

NOTES: Lukomski moved past Chris Biegler into third place on the U of R's all-time scoring list ... Lukomski now has 1375 career points, 31 short of second-place Tyler Wright and 47 short of Glen Nelson's school record of 1422.