Bisons hand Wesmen bitter defeat

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This article was published 05/12/2024 (369 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Wesmen had a perfect 7-0 conference record to protect Thursday night.

Unfortunately for the No. 4-ranked team in Canada, the visiting Manitoba Bisons were in spoiler mode and handed Winnipeg a bitter 85-76 defeat in Canada West men’s basketball action at the Duckworth Centre.

Manitoba controlled the game early to take a 41-36 lead at intermission and trailed by 12 points midway through the third quarter, but with second-year guard Cato Jaro leading the way from behind the three-point line, Winnipeg went on a 23-11 run to take a 69-64 lead with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The teams were tied 76-all with 2:06 to play but Winnipeg wouldn’t score again.

“We went a little dry but I don’t know that I would say we were giving it away,” said Bisons head coach Kirby Schepp. “I thought they were taking it (from us). The Wesmen were super resilient, as they are all the time. It’s their calling card. They fought and they fought and they fought and they made shots and they kind of made it a game. But I like to think we’ve got a little bit of resiliency ourselves, right? We kind of withstood the run and then made plays late when it mattered.”

Manitoba guard Mason Kraus, who missed his first seven shots, finished the night by going eight-for-17 and a game-high 25 points. He added nine assists, two steals and three rebounds.

“I just don’t want to give up on myself and just keep fighting through,” explained Kraus, whose team improved to 7-1 in conference play. “I know they’ll go in (eventually).”

Manyang Tong had 19 points for the winners, while Daren Watts added 13.

Cieran O’Hara of the Bisons had nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds, including four boards in the last 90 seconds of the game.

“We can’t play that badly for the first two quarters of the game,” said Wesmen forward Donald Stewart, who had 12 points and four rebounds. “They really came out physical, started pushing us around a little bit. That can’t happen. We’ve got to assert ourselves earlier in the game. The run was great — we could’ve stolen this one. It was on the table but we didn’t earn it to win that game.”

Jaro, who went four-for-six on three-pointers, finished with a team-high 16 points for the hosts. Winnipeg’s Lamar Everd and Shawn Maranan added 12 points each.

“We don’t want to lose and we all trust each other and we all love each other and we’re just trying to fight for each other,” said Kraus. “Like Cieran, (four) big rebounds at the end, we just wanted it. I just feel like we wanted it more tonight.”

The Wesmen, who fell to 7-1 in conference play, were coming off the biggest comeback in the program’s Canada West history on Saturday, erasing a 25-point fourth-quarter deficit to knock off the hometown Alberta Golden Bears 85-83 in overtime.

The Bisons and Wesmen observed a minute of silence prior to Thursday’s game to mourn the death of Prentice Lenz, father of U of M guard Brandt Lenz.

Prentice Lenz died of a heart attack on Nov. 30.

The 53-year-old Lenz, from Abbotsford, B.C., played for the Wesmen from 1992-95. He was a longtime teacher and coach at Abbotsford Senior Secondary.

“One of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” said Schepp, who played at the U of W during that era. “An unbelievable human being.”

Bisons 64 Wesmen 55

In women’s action, fifth-year guard Emerson Martin went six-for-13 from the floor, scored a game-high 13 points and added five rebounds to lead the Manitoba women to a 64-55 victory.

“Being crosstown rivals I feel like it’s always back and forth between us,” said Martin. “We really wanted to focus in on just getting this one win.”

Emily Mandamin and Anna Miko chipped in with 11 points apiece for the winners. Miko, an emerging star in her second season, added a game-high 14 rebounds and two blocks.

Mandamin also had 11 boards, two assists and four steals.

The Wesmen, who posted a 74-65 win over the Bisons in a pre-season game on home court Oct. 13, trailed 32-27 at halftime.

Raia Guinto led the way for the hosts with 12 points. Fifth-year guard Anna Kernaghan had a productive outing with 10 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

It’s a transition year for the Bisons, who lost point guard Lauren Bartlett and forward Emily Johnson, a pair of fourth-year mainstays, to graduation in the off-season.

“We had to have some leadership step up,” said Martin, whose team improved to 3-5 in conference play. “We’re a pretty young team and we had some really good recruits come in and they’re already performing on the floor for us. We’re bringing them along with us, as veterans on the team, to fill those spots. We’re still working on it because a lot of us haven’t played together before.”

Winnipeg dropped to 4-4 in Canada West.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca