Cange, Bobcats unable to defend home court

The reality of this new season hit Youri Cange quickly.

He took the floor for Brandon University’s first home exhibition game of the season with four new starters, three of whom are new to Canada West basketball.

Cange did what he could, posting a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double but the Bobcats fell 88-85 to the Regina Cougars at the Healthy Living Centre on Tuesday.

For Cange’s entire time at BU until now, Sultan Bhatti was the double-double machine and engine that powered the Bobcats offence.

“He did bring shooting to our team, and attraction — he was averaging 18 and 10 and bringing all the guys trying to double-team him and freeing us. It’s different because we don’t have him shooting,” Cange said, adding the new arrangement is working out OK.

“I feel great. I feel good because of my teammates. Everybody’s moving the ball and it’s not just me; it’s all of us. We’re leading together, trying to play together as one.”

The Bobcats played without starting guards Malik Brown and Munroop Gill, so coach Gil Cheung rolled out CEGEP transfers Yussef Jawad and Kevin Lupetu along with second-year Arjun Hehar and Israeli import Orie Zehavi along with Cange to start the game.

It wasn’t pretty early. On offence, most of the Bobcats looked focused on nothing but finding their own shot.

On defence, they were thinking about what they’d do when they got the ball back, as they gave up open looks and offensive rebounds the whole first quarter.

They kept it close as Cange crashed the offensive glass for a few put-backs, Zehavi made a solid steal-and-score, and Didou Sowadan tossed in five points off the bench.

Regina still led 24-19 through 10 minutes.

BU opened the second quarter on a quick 12-2 run capped by a Noah Manikoglu three-ball to take a five-point lead.

Cange brought BU some much-needed defensive energy late in the half, picking off a pass under the Regina rim and dishing to Max Winters for a huge two-handed dunk.

Cange hit Isaac Brown for an open corner three on the following possession.

Winters added a few more easy buckets to give Brandon a 50-46 lead at halftime.

“It’s more focusing on our defence,” Cange said. “As Coach says, we can score, but in the first quarter we were leaving everybody open, and the paint was open. In the second quarter, we closed the paint and made them beat us off the line.”

Sufyan Elkannan proved too much to handle for Brandon in the third quarter as he rattled off nine points to push Regina ahead 73-69 heading into the final frame.

Once again, the Bobcats picked up the defensive intensity and strung together a few transition buckets to retake the lead 77-75.

However, they gave up a quick 7-0 run immediately afterward.

BU stayed down multiple possessions until the last minute, when it cut the lead to two.

Cougars Kur Mayuom missed three of four free throws in the last 10 seconds, giving Brandon a chance to tie. However, Yussef Jawad tried a cross-court inbounds pass to Winters that Regina intercepted to seal the win.

“It’s a game of runs,” Cange said. “We were just missing a bit of intensity.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com