OT heartbreak for Wesmen in Canada West men’s basketball semifinals

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This article was published 21/02/2026 (222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Wesmen had done just about everything right.

For 46 minutes, the No. 3-ranked men’s basketball team in the country had scrapped their way to the brink of one of the biggest victories in program history, despite losing two of its best players earlier in the contest.

But as the No. 5 University of British Columbia Thunderbirds’ shot makers came alive late and into an extra frame, those dreams quickly turned into nightmares.

A desperation shot from deep fell short as time expired, and the Wesmen were left wondering what could have been as they fell in an intense, heartbreaking 92-89 loss to the Thunderbirds in the Canada West men’s basketball semifinals.

“I think if you score 89 points, it’s got to be enough to win a playoff game,” said Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault. “Obviously, we’d like to have hit a couple more shots and made a couple more plays. I thought they had a great game plan and disrupted the rhythm of the game. But really, if you look, you’re on your home court, and you score 89, you’ve got to be able to find a way to win that game.”

After scoring nine points in the final two minutes to force overtime, the Thunderbirds scored 12 points in the final five-minute bonus period, seven of which came from Nylan Roberts. The second-year forward — who was the Thunderbirds’ second leading scorer during the regular season — was held completely in check the entire game but came alive when it mattered most, including a layup in the dying moments that gave the visitors a three-point lead that proved to be the difference.

“They made some big plays at big times, and we had opportunities to close some possessions that we didn’t, and they came, and they capitalized. Give them all the credit,” said Raimbault.

The Thunderbirds will face the reigning national champion Victoria Vikes for the Canada West championship.

While their chances may be faint, the Wesmen are holding on to hope that they will be selected as a wild card for the national tournament.

The Wesmen led 23-21 after a fast-paced first quarter. That lead grew to 47-38 at the break, then shrank slightly to 65-59 after the third quarter.

The last time the two programs faced off was in last year’s conference quarterfinal, when an injury-riddled Wesmen team fell just short in Vancouver. This time, the Wesmen were healthy, and for the first time in program history, at home for the semis.

The Thunderbirds out-rebounded their opponents by an average margin of 7.8 per contest during the regular season— the best in the conference and third-best in the country. They’re a big, physical team that has simply bullied many of their opponents.

The Wesmen put forth a valiant effort in that department. They were hard on loose balls, out-rebounding the visitors 48-46 and out-scoring the Thunderbirds 25-12 in second-chance points.

“Very, very tough team to go against,” said Thunderbirds interim head coach Phil Jalalpoor. “They took us to everything we had, so credit to Winnipeg, they’re a really, really good veteran squad. Also very proud of our guys, we kind of kept believing and chipping away. I think for the game of basketball, U Sports, that was a really, really, really good game. There was everything in there, really exciting and two good basketball teams going at it.”

The Wesmen’s effort was especially noteworthy considering they were down fourth-year forward Ryan Luke for much of the game, as he logged just 15 minutes and was fouled out in the fourth quarter.

“We definitely missed him. I mean, obviously our depth was a difference,” said Raimbault. “I thought he picked up a couple of cheap (fouls) that were unfortunate at the time, and certainly felt like we were chasing the game a bit at the end.”

Alberto Gordo had a double-double with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds on a night six Wesmen players reached double-digits. Kato Jaro had 19, Elijah Mensah had 12, and Malachi Alexander, Emmanuel Ugbah and Donald Stewart each had 10.

Nikola Guzina recorded a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double, while Tomie Holt and Gus Goerzen both supplied 14 points.

“Their depth is a weapon,” said Raimbault. “If you look at their minute distribution over the course of the season, they play a lot of guys. They don’t play many guys more than 28 minutes, so we knew that was going to be an uphill battle, and I give our guys all the credit in the world for fighting, given some circumstances that were challenging.”

It spelled the end of Stewart and Malachi Alexander’s university careers.

Stewart, the team captain, gutted through a cramp for most of the second half but limped off the court in the fourth quarter, saying ‘I’m sorry,’ to his head coach as he exited. He returned for the final play of the game.

“He’s obviously a consummate program guy. He cares about everybody else,” said Raimbault. “I mean, he’s cramping most of the second half. Hasn’t probably played that many minutes in a stretch. Thankfully, he wasn’t in foul trouble… he did a great job of battling through.

“We go with a bit of a smaller lineup at the end, even the last play, we get him back in there, he says that he can go to do it, and he just showed so much character to fight through a challenging situation. We love him.”

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