The University of Regina's men's basketball team had to fend off a late charge, but the Cougars ended up with a 76-71 win over the Brandon Bobcats on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Regina led by 15 at one point early in the fourth quarter, but Brandon got back into it with a 13-2 run that made it a one-point game with 45 seconds to go.

But that was as close as Brandon would come. Josiah Thomas hit four late free throws and the Cougars survived a good look at a three-pointer by Brandon's Dominique Dennis with just seconds to go following a Regina turnover.

Five different players hit double figures in scoring for the Cougars including Matt Barnard with a team-leading 13 points. Thomas finished with 12, while Carter Miller and Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo both had 11 and Benjamin Hillis scored 10. Millar and Thomas both pulled down 10 rebounds to notch double-doubles.

Brandon was led by twin 18-point efforts by Jahmaal Gardner and Anthony Tsegakele. Tsegakele also had a game-high 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the contest.

The Cougars (11-3) need just one more win to lock down first place in the East Division and a double bye through to the Canada West quarterfinals. They've got two games left on the conference schedule, both of which will come during a two-game road series at Winnipeg next weekend.

Brandon, which falls to 1-13 with the loss, returns home for the final two games of the season. Both of those will be against Manitoba, but a week apart as the teams will meet next Friday and again the following Friday.