The University of Winnipeg trailed by 17 at one point in the third quarter, but the Wesmen came all the way back to take an 80-73 victory over the host Regina Cougars on Friday night in Game 1 of a best-of-three Canada West play-in series at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Winnipeg used a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter that included three consecutive Jelane Pryce buckets to take its first lead since midway through the second. A corner three by Regina's Jonathan Tull tied the game at 69-69 with three minutes to go, but it was all Wesmen from there. The Cougars didn't score again until less than 20 seconds remained, and by then Winnipeg had scored eight straight to take a stranglehold on the contest.

Ryan Oirbans had one of two double-doubles for Winnipeg, finishing with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists to lead the Wesmen in all three categories. William Sesay also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Pryce finished with 15 points, Marcello Kambola scored 12, and Denzel Lynch-Blair came off the bench to score 11 while grabbing seven rebounds.

Jonathan Tull (pictured) led the Cougars with a game-high 22 points, while Will Tallman finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds to collect a double-double before fouling out late in the contest. Alex Igual had 10 first-quarter points and finished with 14, and also had nine rebounds to fall just short of a double-double.

It looked as though the Cougars might cruise to an easy victory on Friday after bursting out of the gates with 19 of the game's first 25 points to go up by 13 just past the midway mark of the first quarter. But Winnipeg head coach Mike Raimbault called timeout to stop the bleeding, and four different Wesmen players scored as part of a quick 8-0 run that brought the visitors to within five.

The Cougars had a slim 26-24 lead after one quarter, and led by 10 at the break thanks to an 11-3 run to close out the first half. They looked to be well on their way after a strong start to the third quarter saw them go up 54-37, but Winnipeg reeled off a 14-4 to get right back into it and set the stage for the Wesmen's fourth-quarter comeback.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night (7:00) at the CKHS as Winnipeg attempts to close out the series and the Cougars try to force a deciding game in this best-of-three series. That third game, if it's needed, will be played on Sunday – also with a 7 p.m. start time.