The Bisons men’s basketball team delivered an impressive performance, defeating the MacEwan Griffins 95-64 on Friday, Jan. 23 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.

The Bisons started strong, racing to an 11-3 lead at the 5:30 mark in the first quarter. Daren Watts made two free throws at 2:14 to extend the advantage to a 19-8 lead. Taven Vigilance made a three-point jump shot at 1:47, assisted by Tito Obasoto, pushing the lead to 22-8. Watts made a three-point jump shot at 0:19, assisted by Obasoto, to give the Bisons a commanding 28-8 lead.

At 6:12 in the second quarter, Mason Kraus hit a three-point jump, assisted by Cieran O’Hara, to extend the lead to 35-13. Ramogi Nyagudi made a layup at 3:55, assisted by Kraus, making it 46-16. The Griffins tried to rally late in the quarter, but Samuel Jensen made a free throw with 32 seconds left to push the Bisons ahead 48-25. The Bisons went into halftime leading 48-30.

Nyagudi made a free throw at the 5:07 mark in the third quarter to extend the Bisons’ advantage to 66-35. At 1:48, Manyang Tong delivered a three-point jump shot, assisted by Obasoto, pushing the margin to 72-42. Hudson Wollf made a tip-in at 0:19, keeping the Bisons comfortably ahead at 76-44.

In the fourth quarter, Wollf scored on a layup at 7:09, assisted by Vigilance, extending the lead to 80-53. Vigilance followed with a dunk at 2:35, assisted by Miguel Nitro, to make it 90-59. Jensen made a three-point jump shot at 1:13, assisted by Vigilance, as the Bisons held on for a 95-64 win.

In their second game on Saturday, Jan. 24, the Bisons earned a 96-71 victory against the Griffins.

In the first quarter, Tong scored on a layup at 3:35 to give the Bisons a 23-9 lead.  At 0:23, Obasoto made a layup, assisted by Watts, keeping the Bisons ahead 27-19.

At 4:00 in the second quarter, Obasoto made two free throws to stretch the lead to 43-32. Nyagudi made a jump shot at 2:33, pushing the Bisons’ advantage to 45-36.

Watts scored on a layup at the 4:32 mark in the third quarter, assisted by Kraus, widening the margin to 60-48. Watts added another layup at 0:38, extending the advantage to 71-50.

In the fourth quarter, Nyagudi delivered a three-point jump shot at the 5:10 mark, bringing the score to 85-61. At 3:38, O’Hara made a layup, assisted by Tong, making it 90-67. The Bisons went on to close out the game with a 96-71 win.

Bisons men’s basketball head coach Kirby Schepp said the team has shown noticeable improvement in recent games. “I think we’re starting to play some pretty good basketball,” said Schepp. “We’re playing together. I just think our cohesiveness has been better.”

The Bisons will next host the Winnipeg Wesmen for the Duckworth Challenge, and Schepp said that “it’s going to be a very heated battle, as it always is in Winnipeg.” He continued, “Last time we played, we lost in overtime. We were missing Mason Kraus, one of our best players. They were missing a starter as well. I’m sure it’s going to be a very intense atmosphere and it’s going to be fun for anyone who comes out and watches.”

Kraus is confident that the Bisons will beat the Wesmen. “We expect to win. It’s gonna be a battle either way, though, like every time we play them,” Kraus said. “But with myself now playing the game and hopefully now that we’re playing in our stride, playing our way, we think we should come out on top.”

Kraus, O’Hara, Obasoto, Jensen, Watts and Jonam Kazadi broke a program record after securing their 63rd career regular-season win last Saturday. Kraus shared how much the milestone means to them. “It’s really important because it just shows that over the past five years […] everything we’ve done has shown that it actually matters and means something. Even though we haven’t won [Canada West] or we haven’t made Nationals yet. We’re hoping this will be the year.”

Nyagudi scored a career-high 33 points to lead all scorers in the game. He noted, “The one thing that I was really focused about on this game was the fact that we just couldn’t take MacEwan lightly. We couldn’t walk into this game easy and think that we’re just going to win the game. We actually have to put in work and effort into the game, and that’s really what I put in for this one. Nothing really different from any other game that we played.”

The Bisons men’s basketball team will play the Winnipeg Wesmen for the Duckworth Challenge on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. CT at the Investors Group Athletic Centre and Saturday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m. CT at the Duckworth Centre.