BRANDON -- Trailing by six with a minute left, the No. 8 nationally ranked Manitoba Bisons flashed their competitive stamina, scoring seven unanswered to beat the Brandon Bobcats 85-84 on Friday night. The win improves the Bisons' record to 10-1. They remain atop the Canada West standings as the only team with just one loss.
Veteran forward
Isaac Miller-Jose was a catalyst in the late comeback. He drained two threes in the span of 19 seconds and finished with a career-high 19 points.
The two shots came from the right side of the court, with the first thanks to a quick pass from
Cieran O'Hara (career-high 14 rebounds), who had two men on him and found the open player. While falling, Miller-Jose made no mistake. The second was due to a steal from guard
Mason Kraus, who found him in the corner to tie the game.
Kraus then scored the game-winning point with 7.5 seconds left at the free throw line. Manitoba was in the bonus, and the Bobcats made a costly error, as Kraus was elbowed in the head after coming down with a board. He made one of two, finishing with 17 points, four blocks, four steals and six assists. His 2.6 steals per game are currently the third most in a single season in program history, while his four blocks were a career high.
Despite playing a team-high 35 minutes, Kraus found another gear at the end of the game.
First, he blocked a shot with two minutes to go to keep the game within four. The play was complete insanity, as he sprinted from the opposite side of the basket to swat the ball away at the rim. Then, following Miller-Jose's clutch three, he went stride-for-stride with Brandon's best player Anthony Tsegakele, stealing the ball away just past centre court and finding Miller-Jose.
"I knew we needed energy, because our offence was starting to stall, and I knew as a leader I had to try and bring energy to our team, and was able to make the steal, block and defensive rebound," Kraus said.
"[On the steal], I knew I could get [Tsegakele] on it by how he was dribbling. He just handed it to me basically."
The first half was all about momentum. The Herd led by nine after one, but were out-scored 28-21 in the second. They led 45-43 at the half thanks to 13 points from Kraus and 11 from 6'9" rookie standout
Simon Hildebrandt, who had three treys in the opening 20, and finished with over 20 points for the third time this season.
Brandon stayed in the game due to forcing 12 first half turnovers. The bulk of their scoring came from Tsegakele, who had 20 points and 11 boards at the half.
The Bisons kept Tsegakele in check in the second half. The top-four scorer and rebounder in CanWest was held to six points in the final 20, however his teammates rallied. Sultan Haider Bhatti had all three of his treys in the second half, and had 17 points overall as the Bobcats went on multiple runs.
Jahmaal Gardner -- who had 21 points -- gave Brandon a 79-77 lead with three minutes to go. The hosts remained up by four at 82-78 when Kraus brought the energy with his stuff block at the rim. From there, Manitoba completely stole all momentum the Bobcats had gathered en route to the thrilling win.
Both teams will be back at it tomorrow night.
