Box Score Calgary, ALTA. — In spite of an impressive 29-points from
Keivonte Watts, the Cougars fell to the Wesmen in their second matchup on Saturday night, as Winnipeg earned a 52-62 victory on Kenyon Court.
Opening tonight's matchup,
Daniel Owoeye would have a quick pass off from
Sam Barnie to get the Cougars on the board first. Ryan Luke put up the first points for the Wesmen as he cashed in a three-pointer. A back-to-back possessions from the Wesmen led Lamar Everd and Shawn Maranan to make two layups for an early Wesmen lead. Luke seemed to be just getting started as he soared past several Cougars down low to put up another two points, earning a quick 7 points in the first quarter.
Kole Scott brought down the ball and would drive to the net from the logo to get the layup to bounce in. Alberto Gordo would make a baseline cut to make the layup off of an inbound play. Shortly after, a steal from Everd had Gordo finishing with a one-hand dunk.
Avnoor Bhullar would find a way to finish a tough layup to keep the Cougars trailing by 9 points at the end of the first quarter.
Watts found some air time on a layup for the ball to rattle down the net for two points. Maranan cleaned up his own rebound and managed to put back an easy floater shot in the midst of 3 defenders. It appeared that both teams were taking advantage of offensive rebounds as Owoeye picked up his own rebound that found success the second time around. Last night's MVP,
Dray Walburger, drained a three-pointer in the hands of a Wesmen defender. Immediately after, Owoeye stripped the ball from the Wesmen for a fast break by Walburger, earning himself another two points and a Wesmen timeout. Returning from the timeout, Scott would cause a Wesmen turnover then dominantly power through the key to turn his layup into a successful 3-point play. Watts tied up the score to 22-22 as he completed another layup with some serious hang time. Alberto and Walburger exchanged back-to-back mid-range jumpers as the two matched up with one another on the court, which would tie the score at 26-26 as the game entered the halftime break.
The third quarter opened with an and-one by Donald Stewart as he spun around a Cougars defender and drew the contact as he went up for a successful 3-point play. Watts went on to earn 6-points on a couple of layups and at the free throw line. Tonight's game was still a chippy battle as both teams continued to send one another to the charity stripe, with a fair portion of the scoring made at the line. For the Wesmen, they found the most success inside of the key through their relentless attacking of the rim in the third quarter.
Kuach Gajak got up for a two-hand flush as Scott had the Wesmen defense collapse onto him and dished off to a wide open Gajak. Watts would also slam a one-hand dunk as
Ijah Nelson stripped the Wesmen of their possession, bringing the Cougars' deficit to 4 points. Unfortunately, the Cougars would send the Wesmen to the free throw line for the rest of this quarter, generating 4 more points for the Wesmen.
Luke continued to show up for the Wesmen as he stretched his team's lead to 12 points in a matter of minutes. Watts was not letting this game go without a fight as he put up 13 points through one three-pointer, 3 layups, and 4 free throws. However, these efforts would not be enough for the Cougars to push past the Wesmen as the game clock began to near the end while being down by 10. Gordo would make one of his free throws to mark the last point of the night and seal a Wesmen weekend sweep over the Cougars. The final score was 62-52.
The Cougars will face the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns on Friday, November 22 at 8 p.m. and on Saturday, November 23 at 7 p.m. MST.
