REGINA, Sask. - Cade Mather's three-pointer with just under two minutes to go put the Regina Cougars back into the lead, but those were the final points of the game for the U of R as the Saskatchewan Huskies took a 69-64 victory on Friday in a U-Prairie Challenge battle in front of 1875 fans at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
Saskatchewan bolted out to an early 9-2 lead as the Cougars initially had trouble dealing with the Huskies' size down low, but Regina scored the next nine points and the two teams were level at 18-18 through the opening quarter.
The Cougars got a layup by Ben Kamba on their opening possession of the second and led for the entire quarter, and Christian Tabiri's triple in the dying seconds of the half gave Regina a 41-35 advantage heading into the break.
The Huskies came out strong in the third quarter.
Emmanuel Bonsu sparked the Huskies to a 13-0 run to start the period, turning the six-point halftime deficit into a 48-41 lead for the visitors. Saskatchewan pushed the lead to as many as 12 points as the Huskies led 55-43 at one point late in the third, but the Cougars pushed back in the fourth. Regina scored nine straight points on a run capped by a big Lodie Kenyi triple that got them to within two points just past the midway mark of the fourth, and Mather's three-pointer from the corner gave the Cougars their first lead since early in the third.
But Saskatchewan replied immediately on a
Ryker Wuttke layup to regain the lead. The Cougars missed three-point attempts on each of their next three possessions, and a bucket and a pair of free throws by Bonsu in the final minute locked up the win for the Huskies.
Bonsu and
Owen Murphy Wiebe both had 12 points to lead Saskatchewan (4-13).
The Cougars (6-11) were led by a career-high 19 points by Zachary Hillis, who also had 9 rebounds to fall just short of a double-double. Kamba finished with 14 points.
Brandon's upset road win over No. 4 Winnipeg on Friday pulls the Bobcats to within one game of Regina for the seventh and final playoff berth in Canada West's Prairie Division. The Huskies sit just one game back of Brandon in eighth.
The Cougars and the Huskies will meet again on Saturday night in another U-Prairie Challenge battle. Game time is set for 7:00 PM in Saskatoon at the Physical Activity Complex.
