They were his only two points of the contest, but they couldn't have come at a bigger time as Matt Barnard's contested 20-foot jumper at the buzzer gave the Regina Cougars a thrilling 72-71 win over Winnipeg on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Barnard's winning bucket came after Winnipeg's Billy Yaworski gave the Wesmen a one-point lead on a tip-in with just 2.5 seconds to go. But after taking the inbounds pass from Benjamin Hillis, Barnard pulled up from just inside the three-point line at the top of the arc and his shot hit nothing but net to give the Cougars the win.

"I was a little frustrated because I locked their guy up on the last possession but they got the tip-in, but I'm real glad we got it back," Barnard said following the win. "I knew I was one of the last options inbounds, but I just tried to get open and once I got the ball I just turned around and launched it."

The Cougars had to overcome a Winnipeg lead that reached as many as 16 points in the second half. The Wesmen still led 65-52 with seven minutes to go, but the Cougars reeled off a 13-1 run capped by a Hillis layup that gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with a minute and a half left.

The U of R's balanced offence saw five players score in double figures with Brayden Kuski leading the way with 12 points. Samuel Hillis and Benjamin Hillis both scored 11, while Carter Millar and Nick Barnard ended up with 10 apiece.

Yaworski and Narcisse Ambanza both scored 20 for Winnipeg (2-3). Both had double-doubles as well, with Yaworski pulling down a game-high 12 and Ambanza grabbing 11.

Both teams move to 2-3 on the season. Regina and Winnipeg will close out the weekend series on Saturday night (8:00) at the CKHS.