It wasn't a truly must-win situation for the Winnipeg Wesmen, but ... yeah, it was.

The Wesmen men's basketball team, coming off an unsightly loss Friday night, rebounded Saturday with a critical win that will allow them to host the first round of Canada West conference playoffs next week. 

Mikhail Mikhailov matched a career-high scoring and Shawn Maranan had another double-double with assists as the Wesmen dropped the Trinity Western Spartans 101-73 at the Duckworth Centre. 

The win gave the Wesmen (15-5) their second-best win percentage in program history and also helped them move into the 3-seed for the conference playoffs that start next Friday. The Wesmen will host the 11-6 play-in game between Brandon and Fraser Valley (3 p.m.) and then play the winner of that the following day (2 p.m.)

Mikhailov had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Maranan added 10 points and 10 assists. Alberto Gordo had 14 points and seven assists off the bench, Paul Francisco added 11 and Donald Stewart dropped 10. 

The Wesmen's .750 win percentage matches that of the 1978-79 and 85-86 Wesmen teams, and is second only to the 1992-93 squad that finished 10-2 in GPAC play and qualified for the national tournament. It is also the first time in program history the team has won 15 games in a season. 

The Wesmen have finished .500 or better in each of the last 10 seasons. 

After having their worst shooting night of the season in a loss on Friday, the Wesmen went out and had one of their best, shooting 40-for-80 from the field and making 12 of 28 from three. 

Vlad Mihalia had 17 points off the bench to lead Trinity Western (12-8), which got 11 points from Josh Belvin. Connor Platz had eight points and six blocks. 

Mason Bourcier, who averaged nearly 22 points a game coming into the weekend, was once again held to single digits with eight points.