Box Score

The Manitoba Bisons used a huge second half to take an 87-61 victory over the University of Regina in Canada West men's basketball on Saturday afternoon at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

After trailing by one point at the half, the Bisons outscored the Cougars by a 27-15 margin in the third quarter and then opened the fourth with a 23-1 run to take complete control of the contest. Manitoba (3-2) led by 34 points at one point in the final period before a few late points by the Cougars brought the eventual margin of victory down to 27.

Five Manitoba players broke into double figures in the win, led by bench players Davidson Joseph and Kevin Oliver. Davidson was 4-for-4 from the field and hit six free throws to end up with a game-high 15 points, while Oliver hit three triples and scored 14. Yigit Ozsayiner and Jonar Huertas both had 12 points for the Bisons, with Stephan Walton scoring 11 to go along with six assists.

Ozsayiner added a game-high 12 rebounds to notch the game's lone double-double.

Connor Burns and Travis Sylvestre both had 14 points to lead Regina, with Sylvestre going 5-for-7 from the field in just 15 minutes off the bench. Burns also had nine rebounds, while Frank Brown scored 10 points and Paul Gareau had eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Manitoba led 16-11 after a first quarter which was plagued by mistakes by the Cougars on offence, as the U of R had 10 turnovers in the opening 10 minutes alone. The Cougars outscored Manitoba by an 18-12 margin in the second quarter, with a Travis Sylvestre jumper with the shot clock winding down late in the period giving the home side a 29-28 advantage going into the half.

That set the stage for the big Manitoba rally in the second half, which at one point saw the Bisons limit the Cougars to just one point in over seven and a half minutes.

Manitoba and Regina will meet again on Sunday afternoon at the CKHS with tip-off scheduled for 3 p.m.

NOTES: Gareau became the 16th player in U of R history to score 1000 points, as the fifth-year forward now has 1007 in his career ... the Cougars fall to 1-4 on the season with the loss.