DAVID LARKINS, Wesmen Athletics

The Regina Cougars rebounded literally and figuratively Saturday night at the Duckworth Centre.

The Cougars outrebounded the Winnipeg Wesmen 52-37 and posted an 81-56 Canada West conference men's basketball victory that earned the visitors a split of the weekend doubleheader. 

Playing on Senior Night, in which the Wesmen honoured Donte Makazu, Spas Nikolov, Josh Gandier and Don Dayrit, the Wesmen were never able to get on track getting outscored 24-7 in a lowly second quarter that started with a 16-2 Regina run. 

The Cougars, who lead the conference in rebounding and were outrebounded in a loss on Friday, were relentless on the glass, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds and topping the 50-rebound mark for the fourth time this conference season.

Dayrit led the Wesmen with 16 points and Shawn Maranan added 11. 

Winnipeg, which led 15-11 after a quarter, trailed 35-22 at the half. 

The Wesmen shot 17-for-57 from the field while the Cougars made 29 of 71 shots. 

Brayden Kuski had 22 points off the bench, knocking down 6 of 9 from three, for the Cougars, who also got 22 and 14 rebounds from Carter Millar.

The Wesmen will close the season with two games at Saskatchewan last weekend as they jockey for positioning the 17-team conference post-season tournament. The 10 through 17-seeded teams must play a game on opening day while the rest of the teams receive byes. 

—#REPTHEW—