Wesmen power past pesky Bobcats

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This article was published 29/12/2022 (1372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon University Bobcats gave the Winnipeg Wesmen all they could handle Thursday night.

In the second half of their Wesmen Classic men’s basketball tournament semifinal, it was Winnipeg’s superior size and three-point shooting and a clutch performance from 6-9 Spanish forward Mikhail Mikhailov that helped power the hosts to a 79-74 triumph at the Duckworth Centre and a berth in the tournament final.

It almost wasn’t enough.

With Winnipeg nursing a 75-74 lead, two clutch free throws by Wesmen reserve Paul Francisco and a turnover by BU guard Jahmaal Gardner in the final 10 seconds sealed the Bobcats’ fate.

The Wesmen, who have swept all four meetings with Brandon so far this season, face the No. 2-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees at 8 p.m. tonight.

“The fact that there’s so much familiarity between the two teams and that we’ve played so recently, we expected them to have a pretty good feel for the things that we do,” said Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault.

“And I thought they did a really good job of making some adjustments to their defensive game plan that caused us some disruption… They caused us a lot of problems. It was a hard fought game.”

Winnipeg went 11-for-25 from behind the three-point line while BU could manage only a four-for-22 mark. Raimbault was more concerned with his club’s 27 turnovers, compared to Brandon’s 14.

Mikhailov scored 16 points and had a team-high 13 rebounds before fouling out with 3:10 remaining and Winnipeg leading by seven.

“Well, it’s always good to contribute to the team,” said Mikhailov, who is still waiting for his luggage to appear in Winnipeg after flying back from a holiday break in Spain earlier this month. “I’m mostly happy for the ‘W’. But it’s also good to know that after the work I put in the gym practising with coach by myself you can see the results in the game.”

Forward Donald Stewart led the hosts with 18 points while guard Shawn Maranan had 15, including three points on a 30-foot buzzer-beater just before halftime. Winnipeg took a 41-36 edge to the dressing room.

“It’s obviously tough when you lose a guy that’s playing as well as he was playing earlier in the game,” said Raimbault of losing Mikhailov.

“I think, now that the game is done and we have a chance to look at it, there was some really valuable minutes for a couple of younger guys. Guys like Ryan (Luke) had to come in and close the game. Paul (Francisco) had to come in and make some free throws… I thought they did a really good job of staying composed.”

The Bobcats, with four players absent due to the ongoing cross-country airline travel mayhem, did get American guards Khari Ojeda-Harvey and Gardner back in the lineup after the pair missed Wednesday’s quarterfinal.

Both played key roles in BU’s 19-11 first-quarter lead and helped keep the visitors close in the second half. Ojeda-Harvey finished with 12 points before fouling out while Gardner added 11 points.

“Those two guys got in just before noon today, came here for walkthrough, had a quick nap and then rolled the balls out and played,” said Brandon head coach Gil Cheung. “It’s what Christmas basketball is… Hopefully (the Wesmen) can get a win tomorrow night.”

In Thursday’s other semifinal, No. 2-ranked Ottawa got 17 points from Guillaume Pepin in a 69-54 victory over the Regina Cougars.

Regina takes on Brandon in today’s third-place game at 6 p.m.

Golden Bears 83 Bisons 55

Brandon Meiklejohn scored a game-high 20 points to lead Alberta, which bolted to a 25-7 first-quarter lead.

Abdullah Shittu added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the winners, who will play the Laval Rouge et Or in today’s consolation final at 4 p.m.

Elijah Lostracco set the pace for Manitoba, scoring 14 points while adding four rebounds, five assists and two steals. Isaac Miller-Jose, who missed Wednesday’s opener due to travel issues, scored eight points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Herd.

Manitoba faces the Algoma Thunderbirds in today’s seventh-place game at 2 p.m. Algoma dropped an 71-67 decision to Laval in consolation semifinal action.

Trio honoured

The Wesmen athletic department celebrated former U of W men’s basketball greats Ken Opalko, Jeff Foreman and Gord Tucker, inducting the three into the Wesmen Ring of Honour during a pre-game ceremony. Opalko remains the program’s all-time leading scorer more than four decades since he last played. Tucker, who was unable to attend in person, was a two-time all-Canadian in the 1980s while Foreman, a three-time all-Canadian, was honoured as the national player of the year in 1993-94.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14