For a fourth consecutive season, the Mount Royal University Cougars men's basketball team found themselves in the Canada West Play-In Tournament, fighting for their playoff lives. This time, they matched up against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, who posted a 16-4 record in the 2024/25 season and were 2-0 against the Cougars. Despite putting on a fight in every single quarter of the game, MRU took a painful loss to Winnipeg 74-86 at the University of British Columbia's War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver, B.C.

The first quarter opened with both teams playing lockdown defense; both of the Cougars' first two points came from free throws, the first by Kole Scott and the second by Sam Barnie. The first field goal of the game didn't come until the 6:48 mark, when Winnipeg's Ryan Luke cut to the basket for a back-door layup. Dray Walburger soon responded, curling off a Jean-Nelson Pigoue dribble-handoff screen and sinking a contested elbow pull-up jumpshot. Minutes later, Walburger caught the ball in the deep right corner and cashed in on a three-pointer, tying the game 9-9. 

Pigoue seized the lead back for his team with offensive rebound putbacks on back-to-back possessions, putting MRU up 13-9. Winnipeg hustled to tie the game at 13 with just two minutes left in the first quarter, but Daniel Owoeye denied their attempts to take the lead, blocking Malachi Alexander before finishing a tough and-one layup on the ensuing possession. Two Kuach Gajak free throws and a contested right-handed layup from Keivonte Watts gave the Cougars a 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Wesmen opened up the scoring in the second quarter, forcing a Watts turnover and knocking down a transition corner three-pointer. Barnie responded on the next possession, swishing a top-of-the-key three-pointer to keep the score in the Cougars' favour, 23-20. The two teams traded buckets back and forth, vying for control of the game. Scott's layup and Barnie's three kept the Cougars in front of the Wesmen until Winnipeg heated up from beyond the arc as they hit back-to-back threes to take a 31-28 lead. 

Watts hit a difficult left-handed layup to cut the deficit to one point and on the next offensive possession, the guard hit a 10-footer amid a sea of Wesmen defenders to retake the lead for MRU. Winnipeg promptly jumped back in front behind Shawn Maranen's lethal scoring and forced an MRU timeout with the score at 32-36 in favour of the Wesmen. Scott's and-one layup and Owoeye's alley-oop finish helped the Cougars withstand an 8-4 run from the Wesmen as MRU ended the first half down 36-44.

Owoeye picked up right where he left off in the first half, opening the Cougars' scoring in the third quarter with a drop-step left-handed layup. Watts scored on the next MRU possession from the baseline, and as the Wesmen inbounded the ball, Gajak intercepted the pass and fed Watts for a tough up-and-under layup. After the Cougars got a stop on Winnipeg's next possession, MRU ran the same play and Watts knocked down yet another shot, this time hitting a corner three to bring the score to 45-46. Watts hit a couple of free throws on the next possession, completing a 9-2 run of his own to carry the Cougars' offense. Down by three points, Walburger slashed to the basket for a contact layup to cut the deficit to just one point. Watts followed suit with a strong finish under the rim to put MRU up one and moments later, Scott drove to the basket and dropped off a pass for Gajak, who put up the layup and extended MRU's lead to three points. The Wesmen took a short timeout and came back on the court re-energized, enacting a 6-0 run to take a 57-54 lead. Pigoue and Scott scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Cougars a one-point advantage, but the Wesmen grinded out a 4-0 run of their own to stay up by three points at the end of the third quarter.

Entering the fourth quarter down 58-61, the Cougars ran a set play to try and generate easy offense, but turned the ball over and sent the Wesmen on a two-on-one fast break. Gajak hustled in transition for a chase-down block but was whistled for a foul. Winnipeg made the ensuing free throws to expand their lead to five points. MRU did not score until four minutes into the final quarter as Walburger called for an iso and hit a contested off-the-dribble trey over his defender. That lit a fire under the Cougars as they got a stop and on the following offensive possession, Watts drove to the basket for an and-one layup. Walburger re-entered the scoring conversation as he caught the outlet pass from Watts and finished on the break, cutting the score to 66-68. 

Neither team scored for a while until Winnipeg broke the deadlock, expanding their lead to four points. Walburger came to the rescue again, hitting a beautiful corner three off of Barnie's swing pass and the Cougars were down by just one point. The Wesmen hit one of two free throws on the other end and down by two, chaos hit the Cougars. On a broken play, the ball found its way to Owoeye with just one second on the shot clock. Owoeye missed a tough layup and didn't draw iron, but in one smooth motion, Barnie caught the offensive rebound and threw it up over his head without looking at the basket, beating the buzzer and banking a shot off the backboard to tie the game at 71.

However, the rest of the night was brutal for the Cougars, who could not score late in the quarter and conceded an 11-0 run to the Wesmen. Down 71-82 with 42 seconds left, Barnie hit a late triple that gave MRU a glimmer of hope, but with time not on their side and Winnipeg cashing in on their late free throws, the Cougars took an 86-74 loss in Vancouver to the Wesmen.

Keivonte Watts earned Player of the Game honours as he left everything he had on the hardwood in this game. With 22 points, including 12 in a pivotal third quarter, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals, Watts gave Cougars fans a last hurrah to remember, nearly securing a win in this game and putting on a box-office show in his final game at MRU.