WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba Bisons erupted to a 16-0 lead in the first five minutes of Saturday's game against Regina, and didn't trail at any point, earning a weekend split with an 81-57 win at IGAC.

The win improves Manitoba's record to 4-1, while the Cougars fell to 4-4 and had their four-game win-streak snapped.

The Bisons scored eight of their first 16 points off of seven Cougars turnovers. It was a microcosm of the game as whole, as the Herd protected the rim, played lock-down defence and forced 11 steals.

Seven of Manitoba's steals came in the first quarter, two each from Daren Watts and Mason Kraus, who both had three in the game overall. Kraus -- who's second in Canada West with three steals per game -- broke a 13-year school record for career steals last night, at 154, adding to his total as part of a well-balanced showing on both ends from the hosts.

Watts scored a game-high 18 points, while Kraus had 11, and Brandt Lenz and Manyang Tong had 13 each. Overall, nine different Bisons recorded a bucket, as the hosts got out in transition many times, and shared the ball well, with nine different players getting an assist.

Tong, a Calgary, Alberta native, came to Manitoba this year as a veteran of over 30 U SPORTS games, with prior starting experience with the Calgary Dinos. This weekend's games served as a reunion with Regina's Ben Kamba and Lodi Kenyi, as all three have their roots in Calgary. That familiarity was an enormous asset for Manitoba.

Tong helped Manitoba contain primary ball-handlers Kenyi (the team's leading scorer from the night before, with 14 points) and Kamba (ten points, two steals last night), and the Herd forced other players to step up.

"Two of my boys play on Regina. I understood the game plan. I trained with them all summer," said Tong

"Ben and Lodi I've played with or against since middle school. They were both on the rival middle school, and Lodi ended up going to the same high school as me. Ben ended up going to the rival high school. Me and Lodi were very close. We grew up basically from grade ten until now as best friends. We knew the moment [Kamba and Kenyi] had the ball and they were driving, we could help off so much, because they weren't willing to pass the ball. They felt like they had to go and make the winning play every single time. We knew we could step off everybody else. Lodi and Ben, we made sure they weren't the ones killing us. We did a good job for sure."

Manitoba, on the other hand, kept a balanced approach and got everyone involved in a selfless display of basketball.

Tong's team-first approach specifically, has earned him the the nickname "the connector," by head coach Kirby Schepp. It's similar to alumni Wyatt Tait's "glue guy" moniker, in the sense that Tong does a lot of little things well on the court that help to connect the team, sometimes in subtle ways. That was on full display on Saturday.

"I don't want to be selfish on the court," said Tong.

"There's a lot of guys that want to be the guy. They want to get all the big shots, they want the spotlight on them. For me, I really just want to win. I know that not a lot of people are willing to do the little things."

Bisons forward Cieran O'Hara (nine points, nine rebounds) was the benefactor of three slam dunk finishes off great passing, including one where Tong sprinted into the lane in transition, before swinging the ball to his left for the easy flush from O'Hara.

Regina kept the game close at the end of the third. Kaz Dornstauder, who scored a career-high 20 points, including five straight late in the third added a steal, and could've narrowed Manitoba's lead to 60-48 in the final ten seconds of the quarter, but Tong denied him with a highlight-reel block.

It was the culmination of a sensational third quarter from Tong, who finished with seven points, a block, two assists and two rebounds, one of which led to a put-back finish where he used his 6'5" length to extended over a Cougar to tap in the ball.

Manitoba rode the momentum of Tong's block into the fourth. Point guard Brandt Lenz scored five of his regular season career-high 13 in the final ten minutes of play, and added an assist. Nine of his points in the game came from three-point range.

The Bisons are back at home this weekend, in a huge matchup against 5-1 Lethbridge.