The University of Regina's men's basketball team defeated the University of Winnipeg Wesmen 90-82 in double overtime on Friday night.
Carter Miller scored 15 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Cougars to a hard-fought victory. Regina guard
Brayden Kuski led the team in scoring with 18 points while also getting four steals. Don Dayrit scored a game-high 22 points for the Wesmen.
Both team traded baskets to start the game with no team leading by more than two points in the first five minutes. The Wesmen started to pull ahead however, going on a 6-0 run to widen the gap. They led 19-12 after the first quarter. Cougar players
Majok Madol and Kuski were the only players to score for their team in the quarter, with each getting six points.
With 5:59 left in the second quarter, the Wesmen roared out to a 12 point lead. It was mostly Cougars the rest of the quarter, going on a 17-to-7 run to make it a close 37-35 game after two.
The third quarter was again tightly contested by both sides. Winnipeg held the lead the entire quarter but the Cougars never let them pull farther ahead than five points. Â Wesmen Eric Racine went 3-for-3 on field goal attempts to keep them ahead. Cougars fifth-year guard
Benjamin Hillis scored seven points in the third to keep it tight. Winnipeg led 57-54 with one quarter of regulation remaining.
In the fourth quarter, the teams continued the pattern of keeping it a close game. With 4:52 left, a
Matt Barnard layup gave the Cougars their first lead since being up 2-0 early in the game. Dayrit scored on a jump shot to the tie the game at 65-65. Dayrit scored again a few minutes later to give the Wesmen a two point lead but Kuski answered with his own layup with 44 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
In the first overtime, twins
Matt Barnard and
Nick Barnard scored a combined seven points for the Cougars. A Miller and-one gave the Cougars a five point lead with 3:43 left but the Wesmen kept fighting back. They managed to tie the game at 74-74 before N. Barnard drained a corner three to give the Cougars the lead with 27 seconds to go. Dayrit hit a clutch three pointer of his own to make it 77-77 and extend the game into a second overtime.
The Cougars went on a 13-5 run in double overtime to get the victory. Millar was clutch for the Cougars in the final frame, getting six points by scoring on an and-one and draining a three pointer. The Wesmen came up short in the last frame, shooting just 1-of-5 and 3-of-6 on free throws to take the loss.
Hillis played a game-high 45 minutes and scored 15 points for the Cougars, while also grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Madol double-doubled, contributing 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Wesmen player Spas Nikolov went 7-of-10 on field goals to score 16 points. Shawn Maranan scored nine points and recorded nine rebounds in the loss.
The two teams will face off again tomorrow, at 8:00, at the Center for Kinesiology, Health, and Sport.
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