Wesmen hand Bobcats more Wheat City woes

BRANDON — The Winnipeg Wesmen stayed on pace at the top of the Prairie Division with another win in the Wheat City.

Alberto Gordo flirted with a triple-double and six Wesmen scored in double figures as Winnipeg defeated the Brandon Bobcats 86-78 in a Canada West conference men's basketball game Friday night at the Healthy Living Centre.

Gordo had a team-high 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds with six assists as the Wesmen (8-3) remained a game back of first-place Alberta in the Prairie. 

Emmanuel Ugbah came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting while adding 10 rebounds. Malachi Alexander scored 16 points with five rebounds and five assists, Ryan Luke had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Kato Jaro chipped in 11 points, five assists and five steals. 

The Wesmen dominated the glass with 48 rebounds — including 19 offensive — to Brandon's 32. 

Winnipeg led by seven at halftime, but the Bobcats used a 12-4 run to take a 46-45 lead with 5:49 to go in the third. From there, however, the Wesmen outscored the home team 21-5 to close the quarter and later stretched the lead to a game-high 16 on a Gordo 3 3:25 into the fourth quarter. 

Sultan Haider-Bhatti's 23 points paced the Bobcats (6-7) who lost their third straight to the Wesmen. Winnipeg has won four of its last five in Brandon. 

Munroop Gill and Arjun Hehar both added 15 points.