QUICKLY
The University of Regina's men's basketball team pulled to within four points in the fourth quarter against No. 4-ranked Winnipeg, but ended up falling 79-71 to the Wesmen on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Cougars closed the first quarter on a 7-0 run to go up 21-14 after the opening quarter and extended that run with a Jamie White bucket to open the second, but a 10-2 run by Winnipeg helped the Wesmen take their first lead of the game just before halftime.
- Winnipeg's run to close the half continued after the break. The Wesmen scored 12 straight points early in the third to go up 54-41, and Winnipeg continued to pour it on as a Malachi Alexander three-pointer put the visitors up 63-45. In the end, Winnipeg went on a 33-9 run from late in the second quarter to late in the third, turning what had been a six-point Cougar lead into an 18-point Winnipeg advantage.
- The Cougars clawed back with 10 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to get to within four points at 72-68 with a little over 3 minutes to go, but Winnipeg's defence held strong. The Cougars scored their final field goal of the game on a Lodie Kenyi drive with 2:48 to go, and the Wesmen got a late Donald Stewart dunk and a pair of Alexander free throws to seal the win.
NOTES
- White led the Cougars with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals.
- Ben Kamba was 9-for-15 from the field and had 19 points.
- Kenyi finished with 10 points for Regina.
- Alexander didn't start, but came off the bench to torch the Cougars for 28 points.
POSTSEASON PRIMER
- The Cougars (6-7) remain two wins up on Alberta (4-9) for sixth place in Canada West's Prairie Division thanks to Manitoba's overtime win on Friday over the Golden Bears.
- If the season ended today, the Cougars would be assigned Canada West's No. 11 seed in the postseason.
- With that No. 11 seed, Regina would travel to Vancouver to play No. 6-seeded Calgary in a play-in game. The winner of that would advance to the conference quarterfinals hosted by No. 3 seed UBC.
NEXT UP
The same two teams will battle again on Saturday night at the CKHS. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM.
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