HALIFAX — The Winnipeg Wesmen's hopes of extending their season into a national semifinal were shut down Friday by one of the tournament favourites.
 
The No. 7 Wesmen men's basketball team struggled to get going early on and, as a result, had to play catch-up the rest of the way in a 90-71 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees in a Final 8 quarter-final at the Scotiabank Centre. 
 
The loss means the Wesmen will play Quebec-Montreal in a consolation semifinal Saturday at Noon (10 a.m. CT). 
 
The Wesmen had an 8-6 lead with 4:16 to go in the first quarter before the Gee-Gees, the tournament's 2-seed, tore off a 14-1 run and went into the quarter break up 23-11.
 
Ottawa, which will play Carleton in a semifinal in a rematch of the OUA championship, led by as many as 26 and answered any Winnipeg surge with a run of its own. 
 
"I think (Ottawa's) a pretty good basketball team and they were well-prepared, obviously," Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault said. "I think they're probably one of the teams that's playing the best coming into the tournament and they were certainly ready to go today."
 
Mikhail Mikhailov had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wesmen, who shot a respectable 7-for-22 from three in their first game in an arena setting. The Gee-Gees, however, were sharp throughout, shooting 53.6 per cent from the field and 10 of 28 from three. 
 
Malachi Alexander had 13 points and Donald Stewart 12. Paul Francisco came off the bench to score 11 and make a team-high three three-pointers. 
 
"I think good things happened for us when we were able to get the ball inside," Raimbault said. "I think we didn't do a good enough job of getting those touches consistently. I think obviously they executed really well and had us chasing and in rotation a whole bunch, especially in the first half when we weren't able to capture some of the long misses that we were able to force was definitely a factor."

Guillaume Pepin had 22 points on 9-for-11 shooting to lead the Gee-Gees. 
 
The Wesmen will meet the Citadins for the second time this season. The two met in in the Lea Marc Invitational at the Duckworth Centre in October in a game the Wesmen won 82-75. 
 
That game can be seen on CBC Sports and on the CBC Gem app.