The University of Regina's men's basketball team lost 98-86 on Friday night to the Lethbridge Pronghorns in a Canada West play-in game in Lethbridge.

The Cougars never really recovered from a 16-2 run for Lethbridge that started with a Brett Warren three-pointer just prior to halftime. The Pronghorns then scored 13 of the first 15 points of the second half to help open up a lead that reached 18 at one point in the third quarter.

Regina battled back and made it a seven-point game early in the fourth, but that was as close as the Cougars would come. Lethbridge scored the next six points to get the lead back up to 13 and the Pronghorns' lead was never fewer than eight points the rest of the way.

Brayden Kuski led the Cougars with 15 points with four other players hitting double figures as Samuel Hillis scored 13, Greishe Clerjuste and Brayden Kuski both had 12, and Matt Barnard finished with 10. Shaquille Harris and Josiah Thomas both chipped in with nine points apiece.

Three different players scored exactly 20 points for Lethbridge including Keanu Funa, Chad Oviatt, and Kyle Peterson. Funa and Oviatt both pulled down 10 rebounds to collect double-doubles, while Peterson just missed out on Lethbridge's third double-double with nine assists.

The win sends the Pronghorns into the Canada West quarterfinals, where they'll match up with top-seeded Alberta next weekend. The other Edmonton quarterfinal will feature Manitoba and Victoria, while the Calgary pod will feature the No. 2-seeded Dinos against No. 7 Fraser Valley along with No. 3 UBC and No. 6 Saskatchewan.

NOTES: Friday's game was the final time in a U of R uniform for both Clerjuste and Samuel Hillis ... Clerjuste played his final two U SPORTS seasons at Regina after transferring from UQAM, while Hillis played all five of his years with the Cougars.