The Bisons men’s basketball team secured an 86-79 victory over the MacEwan Griffins on Friday, Feb. 7. The Bisons followed up with another strong performance, defeating the Griffins 88-77 in the rematch on Saturday, Feb. 8.
In the first quarter of game one, the Bisons took an early 2-0 lead at 8:20 with a layup made by Manyang Tong, assisted by Daren Watts. The Griffins responded at the 6:45 mark, when Job Janda made a three-point jump shot, giving them a 7-4 advantage. The Bisons took a 15-13 lead at 2:19 after Barac Thon made a three-pointer, assisted by Tito Obasoto. Two free throws from Obasoto tied the game at 18-18 at the 0:23 mark, but Hugo Alonso’s jump shot at 0:10 pushed the Griffins to 20-18, closing out the quarter with the lead.
In the second quarter, Cieran O’Hara made two free throws at the 9:21 mark, tying the game at 20-20. The Bisons took a 28-22 lead at 6:48 with a dunk made by O’Hara. At 1:58, Thon extended the Bisons’ advantage with a three-point jump shot, making it 39-27. Thon capped off the quarter with another three-pointer at the 0:16 mark, securing a 44-31 lead for the Bisons heading into halftime.
The Bisons extended their lead in the third quarter, reaching 59-36 at the 6:09 mark, after Taven Vigilance made a layup, assisted by Mason Kraus. Kraus then added a free throw at 1:56, pushing the Bisons advantage to 68-43. At the 0:31 mark, Kraus made a three-point jump shot, assisted by Obasoto, which extended the Bisons lead to 71-47. Joel Seke made two free throws for the Griffins at 0:22, but the Bisons maintained a 71-49 lead heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Kraus made a three-point jump shot at the 6:06 mark, giving the Bisons a 78-60 lead. At 4:18, Obasoto made a layup, extending the Bisons advantage to 80-67. The Bisons stretched their lead to 86-74 with a layup made by Obasoto, assisted by Thon, at 2:21. Although the Griffins put up a late fight with few baskets, it was not enough to close the gap, as the Bisons secured an 86-79 victory.
In game two, the Griffins came out strong, building a 10-0 lead by the 6:23 mark of the first quarter. Vigilance responded for the Bisons with a jump shot at 6:04, making it 10-2. Thon added two free throws at 0:48, narrowing the gap to 18-16. The Bisons then completed their comeback, tying the game at 18-18 after a layup by Brandt Lenz, assisted by Watts, at the 0:25 mark.
In the second quarter, the Griffins extended their lead to 38-28 at the 1:11 mark with a dunk from Seke. At 0:58, Vigilance made a three-point jump shot, assisted by Lenz, cutting the deficit to 38-31. Samuel Jensen followed up with another three-pointer at 0:23, bringing the score to 38-34, which remained unchanged at the end of the quarter.
In the third quarter, the Bisons levelled the score at 42-42 with a layup by Tong, assisted by Kraus, at the 6:08 mark. The Bisons then took a 54-52 lead at 2:09 after Watts delivered a three-pointer, assisted by Vigilance. At 0:05, Watts came up with a steal and capped it off with a dunk at 0:01, extending the Bisons lead to 58-52.
The Bisons extended their lead to 70-57 at the 6:56 mark of the fourth quarter with a three-point jump shot from Kraus. At 3:05, Kraus made another three-pointer to push the Bisons ahead 80-65. The Bisons closed out the game with an 88-77 victory.
With 14 wins and four losses, the Bisons men’s basketball team share the top spot with the Calgary Dinos and the Winnipeg Wesmen on the Canada West Prairie league standings with a winning percentage of 0.778.
The Bisons men’s basketball team will play the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. CT and on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. CT at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
