Winnipeg overpowers Brandon men

The Brandon University Bobcats entered the weekend with a chance to pass the Winnipeg Wesmen in the standings.

They left realizing they’re nowhere close.

The Wesmen (9-3) followed up an eight-point victory on Friday with a 96-79 thumping in their Canada West men’s basketball game at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

“It was ugly, man. We got punched,” said senior guard Travis Hamberger. “It’s also a good thing that we can realize that.

“We’re not a team that makes excuses but we practised a minimal amount of times beforehand. They were just more physical, more composed; it seemed like they knew where their head was at.

“They’re playing like a playoff team at the moment and we’re still trying to figure (it) out.”

Kato Jaro scored the first eight Winnipeg points as it pulled ahead 8-2 in the first few minutes, but Munroop Gill hit three contested layups to lead Brandon (6-8) on a 10-0 run just as quickly.

The Bobcats didn’t hit another shot in the quarter, giving up 12 unanswered points as Jaro posted 12 in the frame to put his team up 20-12 through 10 minutes.

Youri Cange sparked Brandon’s offence in the second quarter, hitting a pull-up jumper, then a tough reverse layup against six-foot-eight Elijah Mensah.

Max Winters added his second three-pointer of the game and Gill had a pair of layups on a 9-0 Bobcat run to cut the deficit to 29-26 midway through the frame.

Winnipeg knocked down a few triples to pull ahead 44-37 at halftime.

The Bobcats pushed hard to narrow the gap in the third quarter, but every time they got rolling, the Wesmen replied with three points to kill the run. Donald Stewart hit two and Jaro made three more to keep Winnipeg ahead.

Gill kept Brandon close with a huge 13-point quarter, but it still faced a 74-63 hole heading into the fourth.

BU was simply out of gas, though, and it showed on defence. It was unable to contain Stewart and Ryan Luke in the paint, handing out three-point plays like candy with every late rotation.

The Bobcats never heated up offensively, even though Gill finished with a game-high 31 points.

Jaro, who shot 33 per cent from three-point range entering the night, made six of his first seven and finished with 28 points.

“If it’s not him, it’s going to be other people on his team,” Hamberger said.

“Numbers are going to even out at the end of the day, but he got hot and obviously it hurts but we’ve got to stay composed when he gets like that, when any player gets like that and battle back and not let it get to our heads.”

The Bobcats are off this weekend, then visit Calgary’s Mount Royal Cougars on Jan. 23-24.

They return to home court for senior weekend against the MacEwan Griffins on Jan. 30-31.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com