KAMLOOPS, BC — The Manitoba Bisons outscored the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 23-8 in the third quarter on Friday — taking command of what was a tight contest — on their way to a fifth straight victory, 64-54 at the Tournament Capital Centre.
After four wins where the team has buckled down on defence and had scoring from multiple sources, it was the same story in tonight's road game.
Four players scored in double-digits for Manitoba, led by third-year forward James Wagner with 14, while the defence held Thompson Rivers to 26.9% shooting in the second half. Manitoba out-paced that by shooting 46.9%.
"I thought our defensive energy was really solid," said Bisons head coach Kirby Schepp. "There was that one stretch in the third quarter when we extended things a bit. We got a number of consecutive stops in a row. That really built our momentum."
"We didn't have the best shooting night, but I thought defensively we were really solid."
The win inches Manitoba closer to .500 at 8-9, as they sit in 10th in Canada West. Thompson Rivers falls to 6-11 and will be rallying for a win tomorrow, now two points back of the 12th and final playoff spot.
The WolfPack were up by two at halftime before Manitoba went on their run in the third. Andre Arruda had a key five points in the run that put the Bisons up double-digits, including a dagger three midway through.
Elsewhere for Manitoba, Keiran Zziwa had 13 points, shooting 3-for-6 from downtown. Rashawn Browne had four points and ten assists, while Isaac Miller-Jose chipped in ten points off the bench.
Michael Rouault led the WolfPack with 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Bisons and WolfPack meet again tomorrow in Kamloops at 9 PM CT. You can watch the game live on CanadaWest.TV.
