(By University of Regina Sports Information)

REGINA, Sask. - With hundreds of alumni in town celebrating the 50th anniversary of the University of Regina's men's basketball team, the Cougars put on a show in their home opener with a 111-65 win over Trinity Western on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The 46-point victory was the largest in program history for the Cougars, topping a mark that was set in a 94-50 win over Lakehead back in 1987.

While Trinity Western actually scored the first five points of the game, the Cougars ended the first quarter on a massive 19-3 run and never looked back. They outscored the Spartans 31-11 in the second to take a 56-23 advantage into halftime and kept their foot on the gas pedal after the break, pushing the lead to 51 at one point in the fourth.

"We took pretty good care of the ball offensively and shared it well, and defensively we had stretches where we were solid," Cougars head coach Steve Burrows said. "Getting back-to-back wins in Canada West is difficult and we'll still have some things to clean up for tomorrow."

Six different Cougars scored in double figures in the win. Greishe Clerjuste and Brayden Kuski both had 17 points, Matt Barnard scored 16 and had nine rebounds in his first game at the CKHS, and Nigel Warden was an efficient 6-for-8 from the field and finished with 13 points. Kameron Vales added 12 points for the U of R, with Myles Hamilton scoring 11.

Regina (1-2) enjoyed its largest offensive outburst since scoring 112 in a win over Brandon back during the 2002-03 season. The Cougars shot 52% from the field overall and enjoyed a massive 35-4 advantage in points scored off turnovers, as they gave up the ball just 11 times compared to Trinity Western's 27 miscues.

Vartan Tanielian had a game-high 25 points for Trinity Western, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter alone as he was 5-for-8 from three-point range in the final period. The Spartans' conference record falls to 0-3 with the loss.

The two teams will finish off the two-game weekend set on Saturday night (8:00) at the CKHS.