The University of Winnipeg Wesmen opened up a weekend series against the University of Saskatchewan with a 81-77 victory Friday evening at the Dr.David F. Anderson Gymnasium in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg jumped out to a 22-12 lead after the opening quarter and continued to carry the lead into the halftime break by a 45-32 margin.

Saskatchewan made the game interesting in the third quarter, outscoring the Wesmen 22-16 to cut the Winnipeg lead to 61-54.  The Huskies took the lead for the first time in the contest at 70-68, sparked by a 9-0 run at the midway point of the quarter. Winnipeg responded with a trio of three-pointers, two by Jamar Farley down the stretch to hold off the Huskies and come away with the victory.

Denzel Lynch-Blair led the Wesmen with 22 points and seven assists. Jamar Farley and Ryan Oirbans each added 14. Jelane Pryce finished with 11. Oirbans completed the double-double with 11 rebounds.

Chan De Ciman led the Huskies with 18 points. Shawn Lathan followed with 15. Shane Osayande added 12 points and a team high nine rebounds.

Winnipeg with the win improves to 8-5 in the Canada West Men's Basketball standings. The Huskies with the loss fall to 4-9.

The Wesmen and Huskies will wrap up the weekend series on Saturday afternoon. Tip off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.