BU seeks major rebound against Mount Royal

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This article was published 17/01/2025 (244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no denying or dwelling upon what happened last weekend in the Brandon University Bobcats locker room.

“We shook it off the same night,” senior guard Travis Hamberger said of a 47-point loss to the Manitoba Bisons. “Everyone came to the next practice locked in and we’re all looking forward to this weekend and the weekends going forward.

“We were embarrassed, simple. Everyone feels the same way. We talk about it as a team, players by ourselves in the locker room, there’s no more playing around. We just gotta go hard this last stretch.”

The Bobcats (3-9) sit one game back of the Alberta Golden Bears (3-7) in the Canada West men’s basketball playoff picture entering tonight’s clash with the Mount Royal Cougars (8-4) at the Healthy Living Centre.

Tipoff is at 8 o’clock, following the 6 p.m. women’s game.

While MRU is near the top of the Prairie Division, it only has one win against an opponent over .500 —the second game of its weekend at Lethbridge.

Then again, the Cougars have found ways to string wins together, something the Bobcats have yet to do on a weekend. They nearly stole one off the Bisons last Friday, losing in overtime before their biggest defeat in eight years one night later.

As it stands, the Bobcats and Golden Bears are fighting for the last of seven Prairie Division playoff berths and if they remain tied, it’ll likely go to Alberta based on record versus common opponents. So BU needs to pull ahead.

“Whether you win by one point or 40 points, a win is a win,” Hamberger said.

“Right now we just need those, especially right now when we still have a chance, luckily, to make playoffs. We need to get as many wins as we can.”

This weekend, their main task on the defensive end is stopping import guard Keivonte Watts, who sits fourth in Canada West at 19.5 points per game. He didn’t play the team’s second game at Regina before the break when it won 75-71 to grab a split. He returned for the second game against 0-10 Saskatchewan last weekend and should be in the lineup tonight.

He’ll be rookie guard Youri Cange’s man whenever he’s on the floor.

“(Cange) is a dog. He has that dog in him, he has heart, he finds pride in locking dudes up and it brings us energy. We feed off him when he gets stops,” Hamberger said, adding BU is treating Watts like any other elite guard.

“Try to match up, keep him in front of our chest and not let him blow by and get two feet in the paint.”

Watts is one of three guards averaging double digits, along with guards Dray Walburger (12.4 ppg) and Avnoor Bhullar (10.2 ppg).

While MRU is a guard-heavy team, Walburger and Bhullar are as tall as Brandon’s second-tallest starter, Sultan Bhatti.

The Quebec native sits third in the league at 20.8 ppg with a league-leading 10.6 rebounds per game.

While Bhatti nearly willed BU to a win a week ago, going shot for shot with Manitoba’s Mason Kraus down the stretch, he needs the guys around him to deliver.

Hamberger has been streaky throughout his career but struggling to score this season, even with a career-high in minutes at nearly 33 per night.

He went 5-for-18 from the field for 13 points against the Bisons, then was limited to five points the second night.

To be fair, no one in blue and gold had a good game that evening, and they have one focus on the offensive end today.

“Definitely not coming out flat,” Hamberger said.

“Sure, you can blame it on fatigue from just having a short load of practice straight into the games. You can blame it on Christmas dinners.

“But at the end of the day, it’s all just heart. I feel like we didn’t play with heart and everyone recognizes that from the first guy to the 15th guy.”

After this weekend, Brandon has a bye, then visits Calgary (8-2) and Winnipeg (8-2) before hosting Saskatchewan to close the regular season.

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