Bobcats, Bisons to battle in B.C.

Travis Hamberger’s about to play the biggest games of his basketball career, and he finally gets to play at home.

It has been more than two years since the Richmond, B.C., product suited up in his home province, since Canada West opted for a cost-efficient travel schedule that keeps the Brandon University Bobcats out of British Columbia in the regular season.

No. 12-seed BU (8-12) is visiting No. 4 UBC (15-5), facing a familiar foe in the fifth-seeded Manitoba Bisons (13-7) on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT, with the winner taking on the host Thunderbirds on Friday.

Hamberger is excited about the opportunity and hopes his career doesn’t end where it started.

“I don’t hope to end it off in B.C., but being able to play in my last year in UBC with a home crowd, it’s kind of poetic,” said the fifth-year guard.

“I told some of the homies to come out. I’m sure my whole club team, the Drive (Basketball) guys, will come out. It’ll be almost like a home crowd, which is nice.”

Thursday’s playoff opener is a neutral-site contest, but it will feel like a home game for not only the fifth-year guard but also rookie teammates Munroop Gill and Arjun Hehar.

The duo from Surrey made a massive impact in their rookie campaign. Joining up with fifth-year forward Sultan Bhatti to form the “South Asian Invasion,” as Bhatti dubbed them, they turned what was a one-man show at times in 2024-25 into a multi-faceted offensive juggernaut.

Bhatti still led the Bobcats with 20.1 points per game, but Gill was close behind with 17.9, and did it on 54.5 per cent shooting, while Bhatti hit 42.3.

They finished third and fourth in Canada West in scoring, respectively.

Both have been the clear go-to guy in BU’s offence, but if you ask Bhatti who he expects to turn this matchup in his team’s favour, he feels it’s Hehar.

“Me, Trav and Munroop are the big three, but Arjun does a lot for this team. The fact that he can shoot the ball and he spaces out the offence, I can do whatever I want to do, Munroop can drive to the hoop,” Bhatti said.

“If Arjun has a good weekend this weekend, I think we can win both for sure.”

Hamberger agrees in a sense, noting the entire group of newcomers, including Malik Brown and Pablo Carvajal, are difference makers.

“If they’re able to bring a spark off the bench, it’s amazing,” Hamberger said. “We’re not playing our bench to hang in there, we’re playing our bench to build our lead.”

The Bobcats’ recipe for success has been simple and consistent over the past few years. If they light up the scoreboard, they’re tough to stop. They’re fourth in Canada West with 82.8 points per game, going 7-2 when they beat their average and 1-10 when they don’t.

The Bisons are a point behind, but give up 76.2 ppg to the Bobcats’ 83.4.

Manitoba is capable of wearing opponents down with its physicality and athleticism, with most of the offence coming from Daren Watts (17.6 ppg) and Mason Kraus (15.7 ppg), arguably the best perimeter defender in the league as its active career steals leader.

“We know we’re undersized compared to them, we know they’re more athletic, but we also know we’re more skilled,” said Hamberger.

“It’s playing together, helping out on the defensive end, on the boards, and not having the ball stay sticky.”

Brandon took the season opener 101-90 at home, then lost 89-76 and 87-65 at the U of M last weekend. But BU benched most of its starters in the finale since it already locked up a playoff spot.

It wasn’t like the Bobcats were trying to keep secrets for this matchup, though. These teams know each other better than anyone by now. Bhatti’s going with the philosophy of not letting a certain guy beat Brandon.

“The biggest thing is we’ve got to be able to contain Mason Kraus. If we’re not able to stop him from running all the plays, doing what he does and being comfortable, it could be a long night for us,” Bhatti said.

“He’s relentless. He doesn’t stop. He has one bad possession and he keeps going.

“On the other side, a guy like Daren Watts … I’ll live with him having the ball the whole time because he doesn’t run the game.”

For Manitoba, it’s about taking space away from Bhatti and Gill, limiting BU’s fast-break opportunities and using its size to dominate in the paint.

The second-team all-Canadian, who will surely receive at least another conference all-star nod this year, wants to see the Bobcats approach this week with nothing but team goals in mind.

“We shouldn’t care about the stats anymore. All the stats are out the window now that playoffs are about to start,” Bhatti said.

“Everybody should put their ego aside this weekend, swing the ball, shoot the shots we take and the biggest thing will be defence.”

FREE THROWS: The No. 12 BU women visit No. 4 Regina this weekend, taking on the No. 5 UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday at 2 p.m., with the winner facing the Cougars on Saturday … The Bobcat volleyball teams close the regular season in Winnipeg against the Wesmen on Friday and Saturday.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com