The University of Regina's men's basketball team fell to 7-7 on the season after an 88-80 loss to Saskatchewan on Saturday night in the back end of a Canada West weekend set in Saskatoon.

The Cougars now sit in a tie with Winnipeg (6-6) for the final Pioneer Division postseason spot, though the Wesmen have two games in hand on the U of R. Coming up next for the Cougars is a pivotal pair of home games against Alberta (7-6), which will enter the weekend a half game up in sixth place.

Travis Sylvestre opened the game with a basket on the U of R's first possession, but that would turn out to be the only lead of the game for the Cougars. Saskatchewan's Dadrian Collins hit a three on the Huskies' first trip down the floor to take the lead, and they scored the next 10 points for an early double-digit lead.

But the Cougars hung around all game, tying it up early in the second quarter and heading into the half trailing by only three. Saskatchewan also had an 11-point lead two minutes into the fourth, only to see the Cougars battle back with a 10-2 run to get within three midway through the final period. But Saskatchewan quickly pushed the lead back up to nine, and the closest the Cougars got was on a Jonathan Tull bucket in the final minute to make the score 85-80.

Andrew Henry led Saskatchewan (8-4) with 18 points while adding six assists and six steals, while Matthew Forbes scored 16, Evan Ostertag had 15, and Collins finished with 13.

All five Cougar starters hit double figures in points, including Sylvestre's team-high 17. Jonathan Tull scored 13 points, Matthew Augustine had 12, and both Brandon Tull and Will Tallman had 11. Sylvestre and Jeremy Zver each had six rebounds for the Cougars.

Both games against Alberta next weekend are scheduled for 8 p.m. starts at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.