The University of Regina's men's basketball team put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep over UNBC on Saturday night with a 78-67 victory at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Matt Barnard put an exclamation mark on a sensational weekend, following up Friday's 21-point performance with a career-high 22 points in Saturday's win. Barnard was an efficient 8-for-12 from the floor, including a deadly 5-for-7 from three-point range.

The game was a bit of an oddity in that the first three quarters all had the same score, 21-13 for Regina. That gave the Cougars a 63-39 edge heading into a fourth quarter which UNBC dominated by a 28-15 count but it was too little, too late as the U of R still won by a comfortable 11-point cushion.

Besides Barnard's 22 points, the Cougars also got 14 points and nine rebounds from Samuel Hillis as he fell just short of a double-double. Benjamin Hillis flirted with a triple-double, but ended up with nine points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in the win.

Josiah Thomas added 12 points for Regina, almost all of which came as he scored all of the U of R's last 10 points of the first half.

Tyrell Laing led all players with 28 points for UNBC, which falls to 4-14 with the loss. The Timberwolves got further bad news on the out-of-town scoreboard, as Brandon finished off a weekend sweep over Trinity Western that puts the Bobcats in the driver's seat for the final Canada West playoff berth. UNBC will need to not only sweep MacEwan next weekend, but also get a Manitoba sweep over Brandon as the Bobcats hold the tiebreaker over the Timberwolves on head-to-head results.

The Cougars had a playoff berth all wrapped up heading into Saturday's game and remain in contention to host a home play-in game. They'll need to win at least one next weekend as they close out the Canada West schedule on the road against Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C.

NOTES: The Cougars honoured fifth-year players Greishe Clerjuste and Samuel Hillis prior to Saturday's win.