Balanced Winnipeg offence takes down Brandon

The Winnipeg Wesmen showed there’s more than one way to skin a Bobcat.

Six of the seven players who hit the floor hit double-digits in scoring. The balanced attack carried Winnipeg (8-3) to an 86-78 victory over Brandon University (6-7) in their Canada West men’s basketball game at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.

“That’s what makes our team so special, is we have so many different guys that can hurt any team on any given night, so many talented players in every position,” said Wesmen guard Kato Jaro.

“Brandon’s a really talented team. We came out pretty sloppy in the first half … but we got it done. We prevailed with some big shots. Everybody made some big plays.”

The Bobcats were slow from the jump, going down a few possessions early while being a step late on defence and piling up fouls to put Winnipeg into the penalty early.

But BU started moving the ball better, setting up a Max Winters three-pointer, then a Sultan Bhatti three on a perfect four-pass swing around the perimeter to find the all-Canadian wide open in the corner.

The Wesmen made eight of 13 free throws in the frame to lead 18-17.

The second quarter was the kind of style the Wesmen want: slow and void of frantic transition offence, allowing their length to protect the rim.

To the Bobcats credit, they handled it well and patiently waited for mismatches and good looks to answer each Wesmen bucket for the first nine minutes of the frame.

Arjun Hehar played limited minutes in each of the first two quarters, but still posted nine points to keep it close.

However, the Wesmen snuck ahead on a quick six-point run to lead 41-34 at the break.

It took Bhatti just a few minutes to narrow the gap to one again, hitting a pair of free throws and a deep three.

The Bobcats tied it 45-45 midway through the third quarter, but gave up a quick 9-1 run on turnovers and offensive rebounds.

Brandon cut the lead to five, only for Emmanuel Ugbah and Jaro to reply with two triples, deflating the Bobcats’ defence to set up two easy buckets and a massive 66-51 lead heading to the fourth.

It looked as though they’d coast to a double-digit win, but after they led 80-67 with just three minutes remaining, the Bobcats roared back.

Travis Hamberger hit a layup, Bhatti scored an and-one, and Munroop Gill tacked on two in transition to make it a two-score game again.

But Brandon needed a flawless finish and Jaro denied it of that, driving past Hamberger and drawing his fifth foul on a three-point play to all but put it away.

Bhatti led all scorers with 23 points, while Alberto Gordo notched 17 for the Wesmen.

Winnipeg had just four points off turnovers in the first half, but 17 in the second.

“It was just defensive intensity and turning the stops into scores,” Jaro said. “We didn’t get too many in the first half, but once we got the ball off the rebound or a steal, we were pushing it in transition.”

Today’s rematch starts at 7 p.m., following the 5 p.m. women’s game.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com