REGINA — Malachi Alexander's efficient career night led the Winnipeg Wesmen to a key road win Friday night. 

Alexander scored a career-high 28 points and the Wesmen men's basketball team rallied from a first-quarter deficit to beat the Regina Cougars 79-71 in Canada West conference play. 

The Wesmen improved to 11-2 in a tie for first place with Manitoba and a game ahead of Calgary as crunch time in the Canada West looms. 

Alexander topped his previous career-high of 23 and also made a career-high five three-pointers on six attempts while shooting 10 of 15 from the field in 27 minutes. 

Lamar Everd was the only other Wesmen in double figures with 11. 

Winnipeg shot 37.5 per cent from three, the fourth straight game the Wesmen have shoot 36 per cent or better from the perimeter. 

The Wesmen started slow and trailed 21-14 after a quarter and the Cougars pushed their lead to 10 just over three minutes into the second. The Wesmen, however, went on a 14-5 run to briefly take the lead on a Donald Stewart dunk with 22 seconds to go in the half. A Ben Kamba layup pulled the Cougars level at 40 heading into the break. 

Winnipeg owned the third quarter, opening the period by holding Regina to one point over the first 4:45 to build a 54-41 advantage. The Wesmen, who outscored the Cougars 23-14 in the third, went into the final quarter up 64-53.

The Wesmen pushed the lead to 14 in the fourth before the Cougars made one last push: A 10-2 Regina run got the Winnipeg lead down to four but the Wesmen held the Cougars without a point for the final 2:12 with Alexander sealing things with a steal and two free throws inside 30 seconds to go. 

Jamie White led the Cougars with 22 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Kamba scored 19 and Lodie Kenyi had 10. 

The Wesmen won the battle on the boards 43-33 with Ryan Luke grabbing a team-high eight. 

The teams will wrap the weekend on Saturday at 8 p.m. (Canada West TV)