Led by Stewart and the Spaniards, the Winnipeg Wesmen stepped up in the second half and came away with an 82-75 win on Day 1 of the Lea-Marc Invitational over the Quebec-Montreal Citadins Friday night.

Donald Stewart scored all 15 of his points after halftime and Spanish imports Mikhail Mikhailov, and Alberto Gordo had 15 and 14 points, respectively, as the Wesmen pulled away to secure a victory in their first home game against U Sports competition in 2022-23. 

Mikhailov added eight rebounds for the Wesmen, who will take on the Brandon Bobcats to close out the two-day, four-team event. 

Shawn Maranan had 10 points and seven assists for Winnipeg, which trailed 37-34 at the half, but held the Citadins to 32 per cent shooting in the fourth quarter. 

Freshman Ryan Luke had seven points and seven rebounds in 22 quality minutes. 

The Citadins got 19 points from Kevin Civil, 13 from Alix Lochard, 12 from Dady Haidara and 10 from Karl-Tommy Laforest. UQAM will play Manitoba on Saturday.