EDMONTON - The University of Alberta Golden Bears basketball team suffered a difficult defeat late Friday night against the University of Manitoba Bisons, 75-69 at the Saville Community Sports Centre. The Bears were outscored 20-10 in the fourth quarter to fall to 6-6 on the season while the Bisons improved to 9-4.

The Bears were led offensively by Mammadou Gueye, who shot 12-for-16 with 26 points and 10 rebounds to record the double-double, while Joel Friesen added 17 and Kenneth Otieno had 15. Youssef Ouahrig led the Bears in assists with seven. Otieno and Friesen had two blocks each.

The Bisons were pretty balanced on the offensive attack all night with multiple players putting in big performances. Senior forward Wyatt Anders led Manitoba late, controlling the glass and finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. AJ Basi entered the game as the third-best three-point shooter in CIS with 32 treys and did not disappoint, finishing 4-for-7 from long range, including the late-game dagger with 13 seconds left to hand the Bisons the win. Andre Arruda led the Bisons in scoring with 18 and Stephan Walton netted 13.

The two teams were very closely matched in this contest, Alberta starting off with an early 15-5 run before the Bisons closed the quarter on a 16-10 run to be down just 25-21 after one. Manitoba would even the score at 30 midway through the second before Alberta went on a 10-1 run to take a 41-31 lead. The Bisons worked their way back on a 6-0 run to close the half, however, down 41-37 at the break.

The Bears had a strong start to the third and a double-digit lead most of the quarter, even jumping to a 58-45 lead late in the third. Manitoba pushed back with a 10-1 run to stay in striking distance, 59-55 Alberta after three. The Bears jumped ahead 69-62 at the 5:26 mark off a Joel Friesen three-pointer but, 45 seconds later, he picked up his fourth personal foul on an unsportsmanlike foul. A minute later, Mammadou Gueye got his fifth personal and a technical foul that allowed the Bisons to jump ahead for the first time since 3-2, the score at 70-69 with 1:34 left in the game. A Basi trey with 16 seconds left gave the Bisons a bigger 73-69 lead and the eventual win at 75-69.

The Golden Bears and Bisons will be in action again Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre, tip-off is at 7 p.m. MT.