REGINA — The Winnipeg Wesmen will head into the final game of the season with a chance to avoid the play-in round of the Canada West post-season.

Four players scored in double figures and the Wesmen men's basketball team scored an impressive road victory Friday night, dropping the Regina Cougars 80-62.

Malachi Alexander, fresh off a career-high 21 last Saturday, scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Wesmen, who improved to 14-5 with their fifth straight win.

Winnipeg now has the third-best record in the Canada West and can avoid the first-round play-in games with another win Saturday, which would give the Wesmen enough boost in the RPI to stay in the top four.

Twelve teams make the conference tournament Feb. 21-25 at U of M, with the top four teams advancing directly to the quarter-final round.

After starting the season 8-0, the Cougars have gone just 5-6 since the turn of the new year, including losses in their last three. 

Alberto Gordo scored 13 points for the Wesmen, who also got 12 and nine rebounds from Mikhail Mikhailov, and 11 points and five assists from Shawn Maranan.

The Cougars (13-6) were led by Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo, who scored 16 points, while Matt Barnard added 13. 

The Wesmen led 42-34 at the half, but broke things open even further with a decisive 17-0 third-quarter run. The Cougars had it down to 45-41 with 6:31 to go, but the Wesmen went 6-for-8 from the field during the stretch and were never threatened after.