Brandon blows out No. 6-ranked Winnipeg

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This article was published 06/01/2024 (725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Travis Hamberger hit his first shot. That was all he needed.

“Any hooper will say it, it’s the same feeling for them, seeing that first one drop gets you going and you don’t feel you can miss after that,” he said, after going 7-for-9 from the field for 18 points, leading the Brandon University Bobcats men’s basketball team to an 86-61 victory over the country’s No. 6-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.

“Phenomenal feeling … We take every team we play against the same. We all know the game plan and try to execute the best we can. For us, this one, knowing in the back of our minds they’re ranked No. 6 helps us get that chip off our shoulder.”

The Bobcats improved to 8-3, dropping the Wesmen to 7-4 as they beat their provincial rival for the first time since December 2021.

It was exactly the kind of game Brandon wanted, full of chances to get out and run as Winnipeg missed shots and gave up open looks in the transition game.

“It wasn’t really offensive, it was just lock in on defence,” BU forward Sultan Bhatti said of the game plan.

“We had to stop (point guard) Shawn (Maranan) from setting an offence and after that, we just played basketball the way we play. We run, we shoot, that’s what we did today.”

The game started slow, the way the Wesmen like it as they led 11-6 halfway through the first quarter.

Hamberger got Brandon going after Khari Ojeda-Harvey struggled to get some good looks in the lane to fall. The third-year guard from Richmond, B.C., scored a pair of layups on crisp passes by guards Dominique Dennis and Malik Lewis, then drilled a three late in the frame as Brandon led 19-18 after 10 minutes.

Ojeda-Harvey hit a few shots early in the second, then BU’s bench contributions continued as Blake Magnusson banged back-to-back three-pointers, giving the hosts a 36-26 advantage.

“It was big. When you see Blake making a shot, everybody’s hyped and we were on a roll after that,” Bhatti said.

Mike Mikhailov stopped the bleeding, barely, with a three that took a friendly roll off the front rim.

Hamberger got right back to work, hitting a pair of triples for a game-high 13 points but more importantly a 44-31 advantage at halftime.

The difference at that point was BU’s 7-for-13 from deep to U of W’s two of 14.

The Bobcats rattled off an 8-0 run to lead 52-33 early in the third quarter and stayed up while giving up a bunch of open looks from deep that simply wouldn’t fall. Winnipeg shot 1-for-10 from deep.

However, it got to the free-throw line as a lopsided foul count continued to go its way and it narrowed the gap back to 13.

Then BU did what it does best — Bhatti hit two threes, Ojeda-Harvey added one and it led 67-48 with 10 minutes to play.

The Bobcats just needed to trade baskets and salt the game away. A few early foul calls their way helped snuff out Winnipeg’s comeback bid before it started.

BU methodically found high-percentage looks and hit them. On the other end, it gave up next to no easy ones.

“We knew we had to be physical,” Hamberger said. “We emphasized throughout the off-season getting in the gym, getting stronger because that’s what happened against Regina (before the break). We lost both games because we got beat down low, they out-rebounded us and we didn’t want to have a repeat of that.”

Brandon hit 13 of 26 threes and shot 52.5 per cent from the field. Winnipeg made just four of 30 from deep and shot 32 per cent from the field.

Ojeda-Harvey had a game-high 22 points on 17 shots, with Bhatti posting 20.

Maranan led the Wesmen with 14 points.

Hamberger expects a different Winnipeg team when they meet again tonight at 7 o’clock.

“We need to know they’re going to come back with fire,” Hamberger said.

“No team wants to come into an away gym, get blown out by (25) then go out the next night without putting up a fight. We know we got to be prepared for that and know the game’s going to be more physical than it was (Friday).”

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