Bisons defeat Thompson Rivers 70-67 in quarterfinal

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This article was published 22/02/2025 (397 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was nearly the same nightmare for the Manitoba Bisons.

They still have some work to do before living out their dream, though.

No. 2 Manitoba made good on its opportunity to rid the foul taste of last year’s early exit with a nail-bitting 70-67 victory over No. 7 Thompson Rivers in the Canada West men’s basketball quarterfinals at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday.

An eight-point effort from fourth-year guard Daren Watts down the stretch, which included two makes from beyond the arc, supercharged a Bisons’ offence that struggled at times and shot 33.3 per cent from the field.

“We definitely remember what happened last year so we didn’t want that to happen again,” said Watts, who tied a game-high 17 points and added nine rebounds and five assists.

“We were just fighting through the end. We just had that encouragement throughout the entire game to not have a repeat of last year.”

Guard Mason Kraus played through a sprained ankle he suffered during Thursday’s practice and supplied 17 points and six assists while playing 36 minutes. Tito Obasoto provided 14 points and Manyang Tong chipped in with 10 for the hosts.

Head coach Kirby Schepp looked at his bench and breathed a sigh of relief as the buzzer sounded.

“It was a battle,” said Schepp.

“Chad Jacobson, Thompson Rivers’ head coach, he’s a Brandon guy… and I actually coached him on the 99’ provincial team. That makes me feel old, but he does a phenomenal job with that team. They were super well prepared, tough as hell.

“It was a rock fight tonight. I didn’t think we were great offensively, but I’m really proud of the way our guys defended. I think we’re one of the best, if not the best defensive team in the country. I think it showed tonight.”

Manitoba had 10 steals and forced 17 turnovers while limiting the Wolfpack to five second-chance points.

The Bisons trailed 19-17 after the first quarter but reigned a 35-31 lead before halftime. Thompson Rivers responded with five three-pointers and 21 points out of the break to take a 52-49 advantage into the final frame.

“They were discouraging because almost every one of those, they played almost perfect (defence). They had a stretch in the third where they had a near shot-clock violation of every possession, we were doing everything possible,” said Schepp.

“They were low percentage shots that were going in at a high percentage rate, but, at some point, mentally, that’s going to break you. At some point, a weaker would start to be discouraged and give up and stop competing, and I thought we just ket plugging along and kept defending.”

Obasoto made two timely threes, once in the third and another in the fourth, when the Bisons were reeling offensively.

The latter conversion sparked a run for the hosts down the stretch that included a three-pointer courtesy of Tong from beyond the arc that he banked in from the corner and two more from Watts, including the shot that served as the final lead change of the game.

“I feel we just wanted more at the end. We started diving for loose balls, picking up a press. They just couldn’t hang with it,” said Kraus.

“They were a great team. They fought to the end. But I feel like we wanted more. That was the key to the game.”

Guard Steve Stinson and forward Asher Mayan led the Wolfpack with 14 points each, while Simon Crossfield supplied another 12.

The Bisons’ semi-final opponent had yet to be determined at the time of writing. It will be one of the Calgary Dinos, Winnipeg Wesmen or UBC Thunderbirds.

 

Bison women unable to pull off upset

The 12th-seed Manitoba Bisons knew they would need to punch above their weight to hang with the No. 5 Calgary Dinos, but even their best shot wasn’t enough.

The Bisons season ended as they fell to the Dinos 89-64 in the women’s hoops play-in contest

Calgary guard Myriam Kone filled the stat sheet, leading all players with 24 points while adding 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists. Secondary scoring came from guards Lilia Skumatova and Kourtney Oss, who supplied 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Manitoba was led by forwards Anna Miko and Darya Rom, who had 15 and 12 points, respectively. Guard Paige Schatkowsky provided 11 points off the bench.

 

Manitoba men win fourth straight T&F crown

The Manitoba Bisons men’s track and field team has won a fourth straight Canada West banner.

Jordan Soufi, Jared Heibert, Adam Andres and Tyler Cox-Yestrau capped a stellar meet for the Herd with a gold medal in the 4×200-metre relay on Saturday afternoon. All said and done, the team totalled 182 points, 78 better than the second-place Alberta Pandas.

Soufi led the charge with two golds, the other coming in the 60m event where he maintained his status as the fastest man in the conference for the second year in a row by running 6.64 seconds.

Andres (60m hurdles, 8.20 seconds), Graham Hutchinson-Campbell (long jump, 7.30m), Daxx Turner (triple jump, 15.50m) and Graham Wright (weight throw, 19.40m) also reached the top of the podium.

Other medals:

• Tyrell Davis, silver (60m);
• Dawson Mann, silver (300m);
• Matthew Gooden, silver (high jump);
• Adebare Adegbosin, silver (triple jump);
• Keenan Allen, Noah Neves, Ihor Brezdun, Cox-Yestrau, silver (4x400m relay);
• Noah Fillion, Alejandro Civetta, Calvin Reimer, Mann, silver (4x800m);
• Jordan Beinert, bronze (60m hurdles);
• Turner, bronze (high jump);
• Joshua Suelzle, bronze (shot put and weight throw).

Adegbosin in the triple jump and Turner in the high jump were the only medal winners to not qualify for next month’s U Sports championship in Windsor, Ont.

Madisson Lawrence shone for the women’s team, capturing gold in the high jump and triple jump. Lara Denbow earned a bronze in the high jump and silver in the triple jump. They will both compete in the high jump at nationals.

Lawrence, Adriana Koes, Juliana Crocker and Kendall Marriott ran to silver in the 4x400m relay. Koes, Arianna Fulcher, Angela Kroeker, Lena Klassen won silver in the 4x800m relay.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca