WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons took care of business on Saturday at IGAC, securing the No. 1 seed in Canada West's Prairie Division, and No. 2 seed overall for the playoffs, with a 74-59 win over Mount Royal.
It's the third time in the last five years that the Herd have won 16 games in regular season play, and the second time in the last three that they've finished in top spot in their conference.
The Cougars fell to 10-10 but are still post-season bound.
The Bisons stayed true to their identity, winning the contest with gritty play on the defensive end, and an up-tempo, balanced showing offensively.
Forward
Cieran O'Hara recorded the third double-double of his career, finishing with 14 points and 17 rebounds, while the hosts had 46 boards overall. O'Hara tied his single-game rebounding career high, which he also posted during a first half victory over Lethbridge.
The Board Man finished the regular season with a career-high 192 rebounds, fourth in Canada West. It's the most rebounds for a Bison in a decade, just three shy of Keith Omoerah's 195 from 2015-16.
Mount Royal got 19 points from Dray Walburger, tying his career high, while leading scorer Keivonte Watts scored 17, but Watts was held off the score sheet in the first ten minutes, as Manitoba opened up a 24-10 lead and didn't trail the rest of the way.
"Today, I felt like I rebounded fairly well. The first half I knew I had five or six rebounds. Near the end of the game I was thinking in my head, I need to get ten rebounds. I didn't think I had 17," admitted the 6'6" O'Hara.
"The main focus was obviously Keivonte. He's one of the leading scorers in Canada West. We figured if we could stop him, they didn't really have too much other than that offensively. The offensive rebounds were going to screw us over if they got too many of those. Daren [Watts] and Mason [Kraus] had 18 rebounds yesterday. Props to the guards. They're realizing there's a lot of value on the boards."
Kraus and Watts, as O'Hara mentioned, stepped up big on the glass, and in the half court all weekend, along with the rest of Manitoba's roster in a collective effort.
Kraus scored a game-high 22 points, including five threes in the opening ten minutes. He ended the game with six triples total, a career high, while contributing seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Meanwhile, Watts had eight rebounds and seven assists, and
Samuel Jensen and
Tito Obasoto had ten points each for depth scoring off the bench.
Jensen scored eight of his ten points in the second quarter, including two threes. He was also stellar on defence, while guard
Brandt Lenz found true freshman
Taven Vigilance for multiple rim-rocking dunks, including an alley-oop finish in the first quarter.
Walburger kept the game close at times, finishing with three triples for MRU, but the Bisons had the answer.
O'Hara and Obasoto connected for the play of the game late in the third. The latter recorded a steal and found the former in transition for a dunk that brought the crowd to their feet.
Obasoto's assist was one of 24 in the game for the well-balanced Herd, whose roster features seven fourth-year veterans, including O'Hara and Obasoto.
"We've put in a lot of effort on the court, in school and in practice shooting around in the gym. I think everyone just wants to make everyone proud," O'Hara said.
"We've got each other's backs. We're trying to do our best. It feels really good. In the first half, [head coach] Kirby [Schepp] said 14 of our 16 buckets were assisted. It looked phenomenal. It felt like we were running drills almost. It feels good when the ball is moving like that. No one is forcing shots."
Both teams begin the playoff push this coming weekend. Manitoba hosts the winner of Friday's 4 pm play-in game between Alberta and Thompson Rivers. The quarterfinal game is Saturday at 7 pm. Mount Royal plays Winnipeg in a play-in on Friday at UBC with the winner facing the T-Birds.
