Kraus carries Manitoba to overtime victory

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This article was published 11/01/2025 (250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon University Bobcats nearly kicked off 2025 with the upset of the Canada West men’s basketball season.

If not for the best two-way player in the conference. Mason Kraus willed the Manitoba Bisons to an 81-72 overtime victory at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.

The senior guard knocked down 22 of his 28 points after the first half in a wild back-and-forth affair to resume the conference schedule and improve to 8-1.

“Their defence was great. We didn’t expect that from them. They were just physical, they wanted more than us in the first half,” Kraus said.

“We just at the end started playing strong, starting finishing more at the rim but it was 50/50 the whole game.”

The Bobcats (3-8) started with a ton of energy on the defensive end, igniting their transition offence with a few early steal-and-scores.

With Youri Cange locking down Kraus, Manitoba’s leading scorer, Brandon snuck ahead 10-4 halfway through the first quarter.

It didn’t last long as Daren Watts and Kraus knocked down corner threes to put Manitoba back ahead, and it stayed ahead 17-15 through 10 minutes.

The Bisons pulled ahead by eight on a pair of Watts shots, then by nine when Andre Gray threw down a thundering dunk, followed by a long two-point jumper.

But Brandon responded as Travis Hamberger bookended a 10-2 run with acrobatic layups to make it 30-29 Manitoba and encourage coach Kirby Schepp to use a timeout.

BU took a brief lead as Dewayne Thompson hit a triple to get to 13 points on the night. However, Watts answered with a layup before Kraus drew Cange’s fourth foul and sunk a pair from the line to put the Bisons up 36-33 at the break.

Kraus took over for the Bisons in the third, knocking down a three and three layups to keep the lead at least two possessions most of the frame.

But Sultan Bhatti pushed Brandon on a 7-0 run, scoring five and assisting on a Cange layup as the hosts pulled ahead 51-49 with 10 minutes to go.

Kraus stayed hot in the fourth, making a wild layup and two threes to put the Bisons back on top, while Bhatti answered just about every time to keep it tight for the first half of the quarter.

“Once I knew Youri was out they didn’t have many guys that could guard me,” Kraus said. “I kept getting downhill, getting my shots, trying to keep us in the game. Sultan almost finished us, but great game.”

BU got careless with less than four minutes to go, turning the ball over twice and giving up points on the other end and trailed 66-63, a score that stayed the same for two minutes before Bhatti hit a wildly tough shot surrounded by three Bisons.

Brandon missed two good looks from three to take the lead in the final minute, then survived to the extra frame when Thompson drew a foul in the final second and cashed both free throws.

The teams traded buckets until the Bisons got a big stop and turned it into a fourth layup of the extra frame to lead 75-71.

The Bisons stripped Bhatti and pushed the ball ahead to Cieran O’Hara for the game-sealing dunk with a minute to go.

Kraus added a bunch of free throws to cushion the lead and send his team into tonight’s rematch at 7 o’clock on a high note on a night he didn’t exactly expect a heavyweight fight.

“It almost felt like me and Sultan were throwing punches back and forth,” Kraus said. “It’s a great feeling.”

Bhatti BU with 25 points and 12 rebounds on 9-for-25 shooting.

BU VOLLEYBALL: In Calgary, the Bobcat men’s volleyball team (4-8) lost 3-0 (31-29, 25-23, 28-26) to the Mount Royal Cougars (4-8). Stats were not available. The women’s match ended after deadline.

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