BU sweeps Saskatchewan to steal playoff berth

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gil Cheung let out his loudest (positive) scream of the season when Sultan Bhatti sealed what seemed a mere pipe dream a few weeks back.

His Brandon University Bobcats picked up their first weekend sweep of the Canada West men’s basketball season, beating the Saskatchewan Huskies 60-53 at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

The Bobcats (7-13) needed both wins and picked them up to secure the last Prairie Division playoff spot.

“I was just excited for Jack (McDonald) and Blake (Magnusson),” Cheung said after his team nearly blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead.

“You never want to go out senior night needed to win one to get in and poop the bed down the stretch like that. But hey, we got enough stops, we made a couple of shots to win.

“It’s huge for these kids to get in the playoffs and they deserve it.”

Interestingly, both teams scored two points fewer than their last elimination game, a 62-55 decision in the 2024 play-in round.

The offensive struggles make sense when considering the Huskies’ lack of scoring ability and the Bobcats’ lack of Travis Hamberger on Saturday. The senior guard injured his ankle in Friday’s 74-64 win, meaning Jakarri Lindsey had to play a season-high 34 minutes.

He effectively played the whole game after Magnusson got the senior night start. While he scored four points, all from the free-throw line, he brought a boost on defence as he and Youri Cange were the top two on-ball defenders on the floor all night.

“I was a little nervous but also real excited. I just wanted to come out here and play hard, do what I could for the team,” Lindsey said. “I’m one of the better defenders on this team so I just wanted to bring a different type of intensity so the team could feed off of it.

“With me out there sliding and moving and being erratic, my teammates seemed to feed off that energy.”

Cheung basically leaned on six guys, leaving Cange, Dewayne Thompson and Sultan Bhatti on the floor while rotating through Lindsey, McDonald and Magnusson.

The Bobcats decided to try something they don’t do much of on Saturday — rebound on the offensive end.

As it turns out, a little effort on the glass can lead to points and it did early, helping Brandon to a 12-2 lead seven minutes in.

However, like Friday, the offence dried up and the Huskies rolled on a quick 9-0 run to make it 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Saskatchewan slowly pulled ahead 19-14 through the first five minutes of the second.

As Brandon struggled to score, Thompson took control much like all-star Jahmaal Gardner used to a few years ago, creating his own looks and knocking them down. He hit a layup, then a corner three after a few jab steps to create space to shoot over a taller defender.

The Minnesotan added a fast-break layup on a 7-0 run capped with a McDonald three to lead 23-21.

Thompson wasn’t done there, tacking on five more points before another trey by the Aussie to go up 32-27 at the break.

“I put in so many hours with basketball over the years, with transferring to a new school sometimes it can bring you back a little bit,” Thompson said.

“Once you get through this wave and build that type of team chemistry, it all comes together.”

Thompson certainly didn’t cool off in the locker room, scoring five more on the first two possessions of the second half to lead by 10.

A slow third quarter translated to a 51-38 Bobcat lead heading to the fourth.

Brandon pulled ahead 56-39 on a Magnusson three, then completely collapsed for four minutes.

The Huskies took advantage of the Bobcats’ complacency with steals and scores and more steals and more scores, a 14-0 run to suddenly make it a game again.

“On offence, we got a little stagnant, the ball got sticky but on the defensive end we started gambling and they started making some plays too. We turned it over, they hit a three, we’ve all been in those games,” Cheung said.

“The guys showed a lot of toughness, we took care of the ball and got stops.”

It was 56-53 with four minutes left, and still 56-53 with 25 seconds to go when Lindsey drew an illegal screen on Easton Thimm.

The Huskies fouled Bhatti and he made both with 8.8 seconds left to break the run and lead by five.

Then, needing a miracle, Saskatchewan threw the inbounds pass straight to Lindsey, who head-manned it to Bhatti for the exclamation point.

The Bobcats played four minutes of perfect defence to keep their season alive.

“I’m proud of all of us,” Thompson said. “Brandon I don’t think is known for defence so the fact that we trusted in each other, stayed together, played one by one and collectively did it, it was crazy to see.”

Bhatti finished with a game-high 19 points while Thompson and McDonald had 17 and 13, respectively.

Emmanuel Bonsu led Saskatchewan with 15.

Brandon made nine of 10 free throws a night after going 0-for-5. The Huskies shot 38.5 per cent to the Bobcats’ 35 but only hit two of 14 threes while Brandon made nine of 29.

BU is off to Calgary for the first playoff weekend. It faces Trinity Western (12-8) this Friday at 3 p.m. CT, with the winner taking on the host Dinos (16-4) in the quarterfinals.

The Bobcats are the underdog but have won their playoff opener each of the last three seasons.

“We’re in a tough conference,” Cheung said. “We sneak in that last spot and it’s a brand new season again.”

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