Wesmen Athletics
Wesmen Sweep Bisons, MBB Qualify For Playoffs
The Wesmen Basketball Teams Closed Out The Regular Season With A sweep Against Manitoba. The Men's Victory Clinched A Canada West Playoff Spot..
Wednesday, February 13
Women's Basketball
WESMEN 65 Manitoba 63
The University of Winnipeg Wesmen ended their 2012-2013 season with a 65-63 victory over their cross town rivals the University of Manitoba Bisons in a Wednesday night tilt at the University of Manitoba campus.
Game Statistics
Winnipeg finishes the regular season with a record of 7-15. Manitoba finishes the year with a record of 2-20.
Stephanie Kleysen led Winnipeg with a game high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Tia Coulter finished with 13 while Megan Noonan added 10.
Brittany Koop led Manitoba with 18 points. Stephanie Gill finished with 13.
An inspired Manitoba team came out strong to open the contest, racing out to a 22-16 lead after the opening quarter. Winnipeg struggled to find the basket in the early stages of the second quarter and Manitoba took full advantage. Manitoba scored six straight points to open up a double digit lead at 28-16 with 6:09 remaining. The Bisons retained their double-digit lead for a good portion of the quarter and went into the halftime break leading 36-28.
Winnipeg struggled shooting 33% from the field, Manitoba was successful on 41% of their shots.
The halftime break seemed to help Winnipeg in a big way. The Wesmen scored 14 unanswered points in the opening 5:00 to open up a 42-36 advantage. Winnipeg would continue their strong play and eventually go on to outscore Manitoba 22-6 in the frame to open up a 50-42 lead heading into the final quarter.
Winnipeg looked to have things in control in the final quarter until Manitoba made a move. The Bisons went on a 12-6 run early on to cut the Wesmen lead to 56-54. Winnipeg found a little comfort scoring three straight points to lead 59-54. Manitoba’s Brittany Koop scored seven straight points to give Manitoba a 61-59 lead with 1:30 left. After a Manitoba foul, first year post Lauren Anderson went two-for-two from the line to knot the score at 61-61. A Manitoba turnover gave Winnipeg the ball and with nine seconds remaining on the clock Stephanie Kleysen drained a three-pointer to give Winnipeg a 64-61 lead. The Bisons scored a late basket but Megan Noonan calmly put the game away draining a free throw with three seconds left.
Men's Basketball -
WESMEN 89 Manitoba 85
The University of Winnipeg Men's Basketball team clinched a playoff spot in the Canada West Prairie Division with a dramatic 89-85 victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons Wednesday evening on the campus of the University of Manitoba.
Game Statistics
Winnipeg with the victory closes out the season with a record of 14-8 and in a temporary four-way tie for first place in the Prairie Division. Manitoba (14-8) with the loss falls into a tie with Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
" The win tonight feels great for our entire program. To qualify for playoffs with a big win tonight, after having our backs against the wall is huge for us. I could not be more proud of our effort and focus the last three games. Now it is time to focus and continue to improve moving forward" said Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault.
Fourth year guard Andrew Cunningham had a game high 33 points, seven assists to along with seven rebounds. Cunningham broke the Canada West Men's Basketball record for assists in a single season, finishing with 163, breaking the old mark of 162.
Travis Krahn had 12 points for the Wesmen, all coming on three-pointers. Mark McNee added 11 while Benny Iko and Jordan Clennon each added 10.
Fifth year guard Jonar Huertas led Manitoba with 27 points. Yigit Ozsayiner added 22 while Davidson Joseph finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Winnipeg fell behind early in the opening quarter as Ozsayiner scored seven quick points to pace Manitoba to an early 11-2 lead just over 2:00 minutes into the contest. Manitoba shot 50% from the field in the opening half on their way to a 28-15 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
Manitoba continued to hold a double digit lead for the opening eight minutes of the second quarter until Winnipeg's outside shooting came alive. A pair of three-pointers by Benny Iko and one by Travis Krahn cut the deficit to 43-38. Cunningham's two free throws in the closing seconds closed the gap to within three at 43-40. A three pointer at the buzzer by Stephan Walton gave Manitoba a 46-40 lead heading into the halftime break.
The two rivals went back and forth in a wild third quarter. An early 7-2 run by Winnipeg closed the gap to 48-47 and the teams continued to battle with Manitoba not letting go of the lead. The Bisons went into the final frame leading 67-62.
Winnipeg grabbed their first lead of the game 70-69, on a basket by Cunningham at the 2:00 mark of the fourth quarter. A basket by Clennon with 5:30 left gave Winnipeg a six point advantage at 79-73. The teams exchanged baskets until a wild and crazy final 23 seconds. Huertas nailed a three-pointer to close the gap to 87-85. Manitoba came up with a steal on the inbound pass and Davidson Joseph was fouled but was unsuccessful from the line, missing both shots. Once again Manitoba picked off the inbound pass but once again they were unable to score the tying basket as Kevin Oliver missed a shot with six seconds remaining on the clock, keeping the score at 87-85 in Winnipeg's advantage. Clennon was fouled and calmly sank both free throws to secure the victory.
Winnipeg will not know their playoff position until this weekend's action is complete.
