Box Score

The first-ever meeting between the University of Regina's and University of Northern British Columbia's basketball teams was a dandy, with the Cougars outlasting UNBC for a 76-73 win on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Paul Gareau led the way for the Cougars, leading all players with a season-high 25 points and adding a game-high 12 rebounds to secure the contest's lone double-double. Connor Burns added 19 points for the Cougars and fell just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds.

UNBC's Sam Raphael was 9-for-11 from the field – including a pair of thunderous dunks – and collected a team-leading 24 points. Joel Rybachuk had 17 points, nine rebounds, and six assists for the Timberwolves, while Charles Barton scored 10.

The win improves Regina's record to 4-7 on the season, while UNBC drops just under the .500 mark to 5-6.

The first quarter saw UNBC jump out to a seven-point lead by the midway point, but the Cougars scored 10 consecutive points to erase the early deficit and the home side led by one after the opening 10 minutes. UNBC took another seven-point lead in the second – mostly due to the efforts of Raphael – but the Cougars again had a big late response, reeling off an 11-0 run and leading by a pair at halftime.

The third quarter was the same story, but with the two teams swapping roles. This time it was the Cougars jumping out to a big lead as Gareau caught fire after halftime, as the U of R built up a nine-point advantage with four minutes left in the third – a lead that would turn out to be the biggest for either team on the night. UNBC chipped away at the lead and tied it before Gareau scored the final three points of the quarter to put the Cougars up 61-58 going into the fourth.

That set the stage for a wild finish, as the two teams combined for five lead changes and four tie scores in the fourth quarter alone. Francis Rowe hit a jumper to give UNBC a one-point lead with 1:48 left in the contest, and after two Cougar misses had a chance to make it a two-possession game with less than a minute to go but missed his attempt from three-point range.

UNBC's Joel Rybachuk fouled Burns on the ensuing possession, and Burns hit both free throws to give the Cougars the lead. Frank Brown came up with a steal as UNBC was trying to get in position for a game-winning shot, and after a hard foul Brown hit two more free throws to put the U of R up by three.

UNBC had one last chance to inbounds for a game-tying three-pointer, but Rybachuk stepped out of bounds before he was able to get the shot off.

The Timberwolves shot better than the Cougars in the loss, ending up 46.8% from the field compared to 40.3% for the home side. The biggest difference came at the stripe, where the Cougars were 20-for-27 and UNBC made 11 of its 14 attempts. The back-and-forth contest featured a total of 18 lead changes and 11 tie scores.

The Cougars, who can move into a tie for sixth place in the Prairie Division standings if UBC Okanagan defeats Calgary in Kelowna late Friday night, will be back in action at the CKHS on Saturday night against Mount Royal (3-8). Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

UNBC will head east to pay a visit to Brandon University (2-9) on Saturday night.