SASKATOON, Sask. -
Taven Vigilance led all scorers with his second 20-point game in as many nights, as the Manitoba Bisons (3-1) extended their winning streak to three with their fourth consecutive season sweep over the Saskatchewan Huskies (1-3), 81-72 Saturday night at the PAC.
The first quarter was back-and-forth as neither team could get a lead larger than one possession, as six Bisons got on the scoresheet in the opening frame, leading 22-20. After an Easton Thimm free throw opened the scoring in the second quarter,
Ramogi Nyagudi found an opening down the lane for a rim-rocking one-handed slam, kickstarting an 8-0 Manitoba run. The Huskies would respond with an 11-1 run of their own before each side would go on mini-runs, leading to a 40-37 Manitoba lead at the half.
A pair of
Taven Vigilance baskets to start the third quarter would extend the lead to 45-39, but a 10-3 Huskie run would put Saskatchewan ahead halfway through the stanza. The Herd would get the lead back up to seven before a late 3 from the Huskies cut the lead to 63-59 after 30 minutes. An 8-2 run to start the fourth would push the Bisons' lead to 71-61, and they would hold the Huskies at an arm's length for the rest of the game, not letting the lead drop below six en route to an 81-72 win.
Head Coach
Kirby Schepp on the weekend: "Nice weekend and balanced scoring. [Tonight] was a very scrappy game. We attacked the rim early and often and were able to get to the free throw line often."
The Bisons did get to the free throw line quite often, going 20-for-31 (64.5%) compared with the Huskies struggling at 6-for-13 (46.2%), making up for losing the rebound battle 38-31.
Taven Vigilance led all players with 20 points on 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Ramogi Nyagudi added 15 points and 8 rebounds, while
Dante Dyck chipped in 10 off the bench and
Giovanni Ajiamah went 3-for-3 inside the arc in the fourth quarter to help push the game out of reach.
Manitoba now heads to a bye week, which coincides with Reading Week at the U of M. The Bisons have dropped the first game coming off the bye week in the past three seasons, to which Coach Schepp was posed the question about what has to be done to avoid another occurrence of the same: "We need a very focused bye week. Sometimes Reading Week and bye week can get you out of a rhythm. We will use the time to try and fine tune some of our systems and then prep for a very tough veteran Golden Bears team." That Alberta team is 1-1 after splitting their opening weekend and play Trinity Western next week before coming to town on Friday, Nov. 20 (8:00 PM) and Saturday, Nov. 21 (6:00 PM).
Tickets for action at the IG Wealth Management Athletic Centre are available here.
