(By University of Regina Sports Information)

REGINA – The University of Regina's men's basketball team went on an early 11-0 run and never looked back, taking an 86-58 win over MacEwan on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Samuel Hillis got that early run started for the Cougars, first drilling a three-pointer and then throwing down a big one-handed jam on the next possession to put the U of R into the lead for good.

The win improves Regina's record to 6-3 on the season as the Cougars have now won six of their past seven Canada West games.

"It was nice to see us get as many assists as we did tonight and I thought our ball movement was where it needed to be for large portions of the game, but at other times it got a little sticky," Cougars head coach Steve Burrows said. "We're definitely going to have to rebound the ball a little better, so we'll have a look at video and try to clean that up for tomorrow."

Hillis finished as the leading scorer for the Cougars, piling up 18 points and adding 10 rebounds to notch his fifth double-double in the last six games.

Kameron Vales hit all three of his three-point attempts and scored 13 points in 15 minutes off the bench for Regina, while Nick Barnard added 12 points. Greishe Clerjuste and Carter Millar both ended up with nine points.

Regina's win comes despite MacEwan owning a 54-41 rebounding advantage and a 22-10 edge in second-chance points. Ball security issues killed the Griffins, as the Cougars turned 28 MacEwan turnovers into 35 points compared to just 12 points scored off turnovers for the visitors.

Dustin Gatzki and Abdullah Shittu both finished with double-doubles for MacEwan, which falls to 0-11 with the loss. Gatzki had a game-high 20 points and added 10 rebounds, while Shittu had 10 points and 11 boards.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night (8:00) at the CKHS.