(By University of Regina Sports Information)
REGINA - Brian Ofori's massive game helped the University of Regina's men's basketball team tie a program record for consecutive wins with a 92-79 victory over Lethbridge on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
Ofori (pictured) piled up a career-high 28 points and also led all players with 14 rebounds, lifting the Cougars to their seventh straight win.
"Brian drew attention all game long, but was able to make smart plays out of it," Cougars assistant coach Wade Hackl said. "He was a force for us, and that's what we like to see out of our fifth-year players."
Lethbridge actually led for much of the first half, with the Pronghorns opening up as much as a seven-point lead in the second quarter. But the Cougars replied in a big way before halftime, closing out the half on a 17-1 run with Ofori scoring eight of those points. The Cougars took a 47-37 lead into the break and continued the offensive momentum into the third quarter, scoring 33 points in the period and opening up an 80-65 lead.
Regina led by at least 15 points the entire fourth quarter until a pair of late free throws by Lethbridge brought the eventual margin of victory down to 13.
Besides Ofori's third double-double of the season, the Cougars also had a 13-point, eight-rebound, six-assist performance from Alex Igual that was punctuated by an ankle-breaker in the fourth quarter immediately followed by his third triple of the night. Shawn Lathan had 10 rebounds and four assists to go along with his seven points, while Brandon Tull (12 points) and Samuel Hillis (10 points) also hit double figures in scoring.
Colton Gibb and Kyle Peterson led Lethbridge with 19 points and 17 points, respectively. The Pronghorns fall to 8-2 on the season after coming into the weekend as one of the only remaining undefeated teams in Canada West, and will return to action next Friday and Saturday with home games against Fraser Valley.
The Cougars will prepare for a tough road series at UBC, which just steamrolled Winnipeg 100-54 on Saturday night to improve to 8-2 on the season. UBC was ranked No. 5 in last week's poll, but is likely to move up a spot with No. 4-ranked Calgary dropping a road game to Brandon on Saturday.
NOTES: The U of R's seven-game winning streak ties the school mark originally set during the 1997-98 season and matched during the 2005-06 season ... current Cougars assistant coach Joel Hunter was a member of that 2005-06 team that won seven straight ... James Hillis, father of current Cougar players Benjamin Hillis and Samuel Hillis, was the head coach for both the 1997-98 and 2005-06 teams.