Kato Jaro's last shot of the night was his biggest one.

Jaro made the game-winning layup with under 10 seconds to play and the Winnipeg Wesmen men's basketball team held off the Mount Royal Cougars for a 66-65 Canada West conference victory Friday night at the Duckworth Centre. 

After Tag Layton made one of two free throws to give the Cougars a 65-64 lead with 15 seconds left, the Wesmen came out of a timeout and put the ball in the third-year guard's hands 94 feet away. Jaro brought the ball up the floor, navigated to the right side of the MRU front court, turned downhill and spun into the key for a layup with nine seconds left that put the Wesmen ahead. 

The Cougars had two desperation heaves — Jean Pigoue misjudged the time left and flung an errant shot from near halfcourt — and the Wesmen eventually secured the rebound and escaped with the win.

Winnipeg improved to 3-1 on the season while the Cougars fell to 2-2 with the rematch set for Saturday at 5 p.m.

The Wesmen led by as many as 14 and were up eight with three minutes to go. But the Cougars rallied with an 8-0 run that included a Layton three that tied the game at 64 with 38 seconds to go. The Wesmen weren't able to score on their next possession and Malachi Alexander fouled out and put Layton on the line right after that, but his one miss opened the door for Jaro's heroics. 

Alberto Gordo and Donald Stewart both had 12 points to lead the way for Winnipeg, and Jaro finished with 10 along with six assists. Elijah Mensah had a game-high 11 rebounds and nine points. 

MRU was led by Layton's season-high 14 points.

The Wesmen are ranked second in the Canada West in points allowed per game (69.5) and Friday's effort was the third time in four games they've held a team under 75 points.