The Bisons men’s basketball team recorded a 76-71 defeat against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen on Friday, Dec. 5 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
The Wesmen took an early 5-0 lead at 9:02 in the first quarter after Alberto Gordo hit a three-point jump shot. Daren Watts made a free throw at 8:57 for the Bisons, cutting the lead 5-1. At 6:54, Bisons’ Brandt Lenz made a three-point jump shot, assisted by Ramogi Nyagudi, to make it 10-6. With one minute left in the quarter, Manyang Tong finished a dunk for the Bisons, assisted by Lenz, to tie the game 13-13. At 0:00, Lenz scored on a layup to give the Bisons a 17-13 lead.
At 8:43 in the second quarter, Gordo made two free throws for the Wesmen to level the game 17-17. Elijah Mensah made a layup at 5:12 for the Wesmen to make it 20-20. At 0:00, Lenz finished with a layup to reduce the deficit to 35-30 heading into halftime.
Nyagudi made a free throw at 7:47 in the third quarter to narrow the gap 37-36. At 5:27, Watts hit a jump shot to put the Bisons ahead 40-39. Donald Stewart made a layup at 0:03 to give the Wesmen a 54-44 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Stewart made a three-point jump shot at 5:32 to keep the Wesmen ahead 61-54. At 2:04, Nyagudi scored a three-point jump shot to cut the lead to 65-62. Lenz made a three-point jump shot at 0:33, narrowing the score 67-65. At 0:03, Cieran O’Hara tipped in the tying basket for the Bisons to level the game 67-67.
In overtime, Ryan Luke made a three-point jump shot for the Wesmen at 4:04 to give them a 70-67 lead. At 2:57, Bisons’ Tito Obasoto responded with a jump shot to cut the score 70-69. Watts made two free throws at 0:25 to reduce the deficit to 74-71. Gordo sealed the win with two free throws at 0:08, and the Wesmen held on for a 76-71 win.
Bisons men’s basketball lead assistant coach Elijah Lostracco commented on the game’s outcome. “It’s always a dog fight when we play [U of W]. They fought hard at the end,” said Lostracco. “I think we just had some lapses in the third quarter where they outcompeted us for a little bit and cleaned up some little mistakes. Some things on offence […] gave us a little bit of trouble sometimes, but I’m just proud of how they competed at the end and made it a fight until the very end of the game.”
He explained how the opponents relied on physical play as a key part of their strategy. “That’s [U of W]’s game plan and it has been for the last couple years. They have very physical bigs and they crash the boards really hard and they try to play through their posts, so we knew coming into this game it wasn’t going to be a big X’s and O’s game. It was really just going to be a dog fight and whoever competed for the most amount of time is going to come out on top.”
Lostracco outlined his expectations for the remaining games next year. “We’re five and five now and we start with the top two teams in our conference, so [we] get a little bit of rest over the Christmas break [to] regroup and come out of it better and learn from our first semester.”
The Bisons men’s basketball team will play the Mount Royal Cougars on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 1:30 p.m. CT and Friday, Jan. 9 at 8 p.m. CT in Calgary, Alberta.
