It was a tie game late in the third quarter, but the University of Regina's men's basketball team blew the game wide open with 18 consecutive points over five minutes of game time in the second half and coasted to an 82-62 win over Winnipeg on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
 
Neither team led by more than six points and the squads traded leads nine times through the first two and a half quarters, but after a Kieran McGrath triple for Winnipeg tied the game at 50-50 in the latter stages of the third the Cougars took control.
 
The U of R's big 18-0 run over the next five minutes featured a personal 7-0 run by Jonathan Tull, a pair of field goals including a triple from Brandon Tull, back-to-back buckets by Stephen Shields, and a layup by Aaron McGowan. Winnipeg called two timeouts during that stretch but were unable to stem the tide, and the Cougars led by at least 20 for most of the fourth quarter.
 
The win improves Regina's record to 5-3 on the season as the Cougars pull into a tie with Victoria for fifth place in Canada West's Pioneer Division.
 
Both of the Tull brothers broke the 20-point barrier, with Jonathan scoring a game-high 23 and Brandon finishing with 20. Brian Ofori scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half alone and led the Cougars with seven rebounds, while Will Tallman had 11 points and six rebounds for the U of R.
 
Three of Winnipeg's five starters hit double figures in points, including William Sesay who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Jelane Pryce had a team-high 12 points, while Denzel Lynch-Blair added 10 as the Wesmen fall to 3-5 on the season. Winnipeg is back in action with a Thursday/Saturday home-and-home with Brandon on Jan. 7 and Jan. 9.
 
The Cougars will have three weeks off before participating in the Phoenix College Holiday Classic, which will see them take on host Phoenix College, Hillcrest Academy, and Cochise College at the non-conference tournament which stretches from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30. The Canada West schedule resumes for the Cougars on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 at home against Trinity Western.