WINNIPEG – A dominant second quarter helped propel the No. 10 nationally ranked Manitoba Bisons to a 99-86 win over Lethbridge on Saturday night at IGAC. It's the highest point total for the Herd since they put up 100 against Alberta to start the 2022-23 campaign.
The win improves Manitoba's record to 6-2, while Lethbridge fell to 0-8. The Bisons have now won four in a row.
Kymani Pollard had a career night in the loss, putting up a game and career-high 33 points, while Shae Gibb added 21, but Manitoba's depth was too much on the night.
Five different Bisons scored in double figures, led by a career-high 24 points from
Daren Watts, who's started all eight games this year. He logged 30 minutes for the third time on the year, and second night in a row, while
Simon Hildebrandt set the tone early, finishing with 27 points, one shy of his career high.
The pair were a combined 12-for-12 from the free throw line, slashing into the paint all night, while Watts also went four-for-four from distance. It's the third time in his career he's been perfect from three, and his four triples were also a career best.
Brandt Lenz added all ten of his points in the second, finishing with a perfect shooting night, including two triples.
Mason Kraus also had 11 of his 13 in the second half, while
Jonam Kazadi scored six points in a row late, finishing with 11.
"It feels good. [Head coach
Kirby Schepp] puts me in and I do what I need to do," said Watts.
"That's just the relationship of it. I trust him to make the right decisions. If someone else is going off, then let them go off. If I'm having a good game then he's going to put me in. Everyone on our team is so good, anyone can turn up at any moment."
Pollard and Hildebrandt scored the first 14 points of the game, and were the only players to hit the score board in the first three-and-a-half minutes. After ten, the visitors led 23-21, thanks to Pollard's 15.
Defensive intensity and points in transition told the story in the second.
A Lenz triple following a Hildebrandt steal gave Manitoba a 31-29 lead, and they went on an 11-4 run shortly afterwards, thanks to seven points in a row from Hildebrandt.
Watts added a team-high 12 in the quarter, as the hosts out-scored Lethbridge 35-18, aided by four steals. Manitoba finished with 11 in the game, led by three from 'the glue guy'
Wyatt Tait.
Starting point guard Kraus was rested for most of the second, with Lenz logging eight minutes of impressive basketball. Overall, Manitoba scored 15 fast break points compared to two for Lethbridge, entering the break up 56-41 following Lenz's third three.
Kraus opened the third up with back-to-back triples, as the Bisons led by double figures the rest of the way.
Manitoba will head to BC to finish off the first half of their season, taking on Trinity Western next weekend.
