The Winnipeg Wesmen held their opponents to 11 first-quarter points, led by as many as 24 in the first half, and rolled to their fifth win of the season Thursday night.

Narcisse Ambanza had a career-high 23 points to lead five Wesmen players in double figures, and added six rebounds and four assists and the Wesmen built an insurmountable lead early in defeating the Brandon Bobcats 93-83 in men's basketball action at the Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium.

The Wesmen improved to 5-2 on the season and temporarily into sole possession of second place in the Canada West conference.

The Wesmen led 44-20 before a 14-2 Brandon run closed the first half. The Bobcats trimmed the lead all the way to five, before three straight Wesmen buckets boosted the lead to 67-56 with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Wesmen rebounded from a sluggish effort in a loss to Lethbridge in their last time out and posted their biggest regulation-time offensive output of the season, both conference and non-conference.

Denzel Lynch-Blair added 19 points and six rebounds, Sean Tarver hit four three-pointers and finished with 18 points and six rebounds, Will Sesay added 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Ryan Oirbans had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Earl Thompson Jr. had a game-high 28 points to pace Brandon (2-5) and Tyvon Cooper had 27 points and eight assists. John Paul had 14 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The two teams are back at it Friday night in Brandon.

Notes: - Narcisse Ambanza was named the Wesmen Indigenous Day Most Valuable Player.

- Fifth year player Jamar Farley was the Men's Basketball recipient of the Jim Schrofel Memorial Scholarship.