BRANDON — The Winnipeg Wesmen went to work in the Wheat City on Opening Night.
Elijah Mensah scored a career-high 26 points and the Wesmen men's basketball team dominated the second half en route to a 95-65 win over the Brandon Bobcats in the Canada West opener for both teams.
Mensah made 9 of 13 from the field and grabbed six rebounds along with snatching a career-high five steals as the Wesmen beat Brandon for the fifth straight time in conference play.
Four other Wesmen scored in double figures with
Alberto Gordo dropping 19 and
Ryan Luke 16 with a game-high nine rebounds. Fourth-year guard
Kato Jaro, who was third in the conference in assists per game last season, dished out a career-high 15 to go along with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
Emmanuel Ugbah added 10 points with seven rebounds and three steals.
Jaro got into foul trouble with two quick calls inside the first five minutes of the game and head coach
Mike Raimbault was forced to turn to his bench. Second-year guard
Noah Macalalad and freshman point guard
Liam Jaro, Kato's brother, stepped in admirably logging more than 30 minutes between them. Macalalad scored five points and
Liam Jaro had a career-high seven assists in 20 minutes.
Winnipeg led 42-39 at the half but forced six BU turnovers in the third quarter and used a 23-7 run in the third to build up a double-digit lead.
The Bobcats were just 3-for-8 with another six turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Wesmen outscored the hosts 28-9 in the final period.
Munroop Gill scored 23 to lead the Bobcats.
