The Bisons men’s basketball team defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 81-70 in their home opener on Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
Daren Watts opened the scoring with a free throw at 9:17 in the first quarter, giving the Bisons a 1-0 lead. At 8:54, Mohamed Jabateh made a layup for the Huskies, assisted by Emmanuel Bonsu, putting them ahead 2-1. Watts responded with a layup at 8:10, restoring the Bisons’ lead to 5-2. Cieran O’Hara scored on a layup at 5:26, assisted by Mason Kraus, pushing the Bisons ahead 12-7. At 1:23, Tito Obasoto hit a free throw to extend the Bisons lead to 26-16. Treyvon Folkes made a layup for the Huskies with 44 seconds remaining, ending the quarter with the Bisons up 26-18.
Brandt Lenz made a three-point jump shot, assisted by Watts, at 7:39 in the second quarter, keeping the Bisons ahead 29-24. Bonsu made a layup at 6:52 for the Huskies to narrow the deficit to 29-28. At 5:49, Kraus made a three-point jump shot to widen the Bisons’ lead to 35-28. With 48 seconds left, Obasoto added a jump shot to make it 44-36. At 0:28, Easton Thimm made a jump shot for the Huskies, trimming the Bisons’ lead to 44-38 at half time.
In the third quarter, Kraus hit a three-point jump shot at 6:31, assisted by O’Hara, giving the Bisons a 51-44 lead. Jonam Kazadi added a layup at 1:18 to push the Bisons’ advantage to 62-46. The Huskies responded with a jump shot from Owen Murphy Wiebe at 0:54, cutting the score to 62-48.
In the fourth quarter, Samuel Jensen made a three-point jump shot at 5:12 to stretch the Bisons’ lead to 72-55. With 1:36 remaining, Kazadi scored on a layup, assisted by Kraus, pushing the Bisons’ lead to 81-65. Mohamed Mahadhi made a layup for the Huskies with 31 seconds left, but the Bisons held on for an 81-70 victory.
In the second game on Nov. 7, the Bisons earned an 87-80 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies.
The Huskies dominated the first quarter, taking a 23-17 lead. The Bisons responded in the second quarter, outscoring the Huskies 24-18. The Bisons kept the momentum in the third quarter with a 22-20 edge, then closed out the game by winning the fourth quarter 24-19.
According to Bisons men’s basketball head coach Kirby Schepp’s assessment, he “thought Saskatchewan came out much harder today.” Schepp added, “Their intensity was way better and gave us a tremendous challenge. I thought their physicality gave us trouble early and got us out of rhythm a little bit offensively, but I thought we played well down the stretch. The challenge, of course, was our free-throw shooting. Our free-throw shooting was absolutely horrendous and made it probably a closer game than it needed to be.”
He explained how the team was able to match the opponent’s physical style of play. “I think we just adjusted and became a little more physical ourselves and started being a little more under control at times. One thing that physicality does is it makes you speed up, and we were slowing down at the right times and getting control of ourselves a little better.”
Schepp said he was satisfied with how the home opener unfolded, adding that he hopes it “sets the stage for the rest of the year.”
Kraus, a Bisons guard, stressed the importance of this weekend’s wins for the team. “It was a good weekend. We haven’t had a sweep yet this season, so it’s nice to finally get a back-to-back win and build off that and hopefully bring it to the next week.”
Bisons forward Ramogi Nyagudi outlined how the team stepped up in the second half to secure the win. “We just looked at it as 0-0. When the half started as 0-0, we were going to go attack, we were going to play good defence and we were just going to go and try to get as many buckets as we can as a team.”
The following weekend, the Bisons played against the Lethbridge Pronghorns who recorded an 87-71 win on Friday, Nov. 14.
The Pronghorns won the first quarter 22-9. The Bisons came back and won the second quarter 29-26. The teams stayed even in the third quarter at 13-13, before the Pronghorns closed strong, taking the fourth quarter 26-20.
In the second game on Saturday, Nov. 15, the Bisons secured a 74-69 victory over the Pronghorns.
The Bisons won the first quarter 19-13. They kept the momentum and won the second quarter 23-16. The Pronghorns then mounted a response after halftime, narrowing the gap with a 22-17 win in the third quarter and edging the fourth quarter 18-15, but their late push was not enough to overcome the Bisons’ early control.
The Bisons men’s basketball team will host the Calgary Dinos on Friday, Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. CT, and Saturday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. CT at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
