Wesmen top Cougars to advance to quarterfinal round

VANCOUVER – Both teams left it all out there on the court Friday night, as the Winnipeg Wesmen defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 86-74 in the play-in round to advance to the Canada West Quarterfinals.

The two Prairie Division squads faced off inside UBC’s War Memorial Gym, the first time either team had played there this season. While the lower-seeded Cougars kept it close throughout the night, and even tied the score with less than three minutes to play, the battle-tested Wesmen shut down the hopes of an upset with a great close to the night. 

“Tip of our hat to the way they played and how they were prepared,” said Winnipeg head coach Mike Raimbault. “I thought we did a good job of maintaining our composure when the game got close, executed, and made a couple of big shots late to give us some breathing room.” 

“You have to be full value if you’re going to beat a team like that and I thought both teams played hard,” said MRU head coach Josh Mullen. “A bit of a choppy game but it is what it is and they’re full value. That said, we came a long way this season and there’s still room for growth after my first year with the program so overall the guys came a long way. I’m proud of them and we’re trending the right way.”

Shawn Maranan recorded 25 points and 8 assists for the Wesmen, both of those marks being game-highs. Ryan Luke scored 20 points on 8-10 shooting to go with 5 rebounds, while Donald Stewart added 10 points, seven boards and three blocks.

Keivonte Watts notched 22 points to go with four rebounds and three assists for the Cougars, while Dray Walburger put up 15 points and four boards. Sam Barnie scored an efficient 13 points on 5-6 shooting. 

It was a very choppy opening quarter, as the Cougars owned the offensive glass with six offensive boards and the Wesmen owned the free throw line, shooting 9-9 from the stripe. Maranan accounted for eight of those foul shots, making up most of his 10 points in the opening frame. 

Despite that, it was the Cougars who led at the end of the first by three points, although that lead was to be short-lived. The Wesmen unleashed a barrage of three-pointers in the second, hitting six for eight from the outside to take the lead.

Elijah Mensah and Maranan got the deep shot barrage started, and Stewart pushed the lead out to nine points with just a couple minutes left in the half. The Cougars kept it to single digits at the interval, with Daniel Owoeye scoring inside in the waning seconds to put the score at 44-36.

The tides completely shifted to begin the third, as Watts came alive with seven straight points in rapid succession to put his team right back in it. He then scored a layup to take a one-point lead halfway through the frame, followed by a bucket from Kuach Gajak to make it an 18-7 MRU run to begin the second half.

Winnipeg began to crank up their defence once again from there, holding the Cougars in check for the remainder of the third and retaking a slim lead heading into the final frame.

The Wesmen remained locked in defensively to begin the fourth, holding the Cougars without a point for the first three and a half minutes before Walburger hit a contested three followed by an and-one from Watts to make it a one-possession game once again.

A circus shot from Barnie as the shot clock expired tied the game at 71 entering the final few minutes, but Luke and Kato Jaro drilled clutch triples on consecutive plays to put their team up six. A combination of hard-nosed defence and made free throws saw out the game from there, as the Wesmen held on for the win.

With the victory, sixth seeded Winnipeg now advances to face the third seeded UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West Quarterfinals. 

“Obviously it’s an uphill battle with them being able to watch the game and be fresh while we have to play as hard as we did today, but we’re excited about the challenge and we’re going to try and play our best 40 minutes,” added Raimbault.

Saturday night’s matchup at War Memorial Gym will be just the third meeting between the Wesmen and the Thunderbirds since 2020. It tips off at 6:00 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.