University of Winnipeg

For the third time in three tries, the Winnipeg Wesmen got the better of the Brandon Bobcats.

Donald Stewart made five of six three-pointers and the Wesmen men's basketball team beat the Bobcats 79-74 in the first semifinal of the Wesmen Classic Thursday night at the Duckworth Centre.

The win was Winnipeg's third in three games over Brandon this month having knocked off the Bobcats in a home-and-home conference series Dec. 1 and 3. And in this case it put the Wesmen back in the final of their own tournament for the first time since 2014. 

The Wesmen will take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees in Friday's finale as they seek their first Classic title since 2006.

Stewart finished with 18 points and provided a few clutch makes down the stretch as the Wesmen recovered from a sluggish start to the first quarter.

The Bobcats opened on an 11-4 run and led by as many as 10 in the first before Winnipeg mounted a 10-0 run to start the second quarter, holding the Bobcats without a point for the first 2:32 of the frame. 

The Bobcats would go ahead on an Elisha Ampofo jumper with 48 seconds to go in the second, but the Wesmen closed the half out with a 6-0 run capped by a Shawn Maranan buzzer-beating three from just inside half court that made it 41-35.

 The Wesmen had one more closing run in them in the third, as well. Tied 50-all, Winnipeg went on a 9-2 surge to go into the fourth with a 59-52 edge and the Bobcats would not lead again. Brandon did, however, make it a one-possession game late in the fourth holding the Wesmen without a point for a stretch of 3:37 that trimmed a 75-66 Winnipeg lead to 75-74 with 10 seconds left. Paul Francisco made two free throws after Brandon intentionally fouled and Maranan iced it with two more free throws with four seconds left. 

"The fact that there's so much familiarity between the two teams and we played so recently, we expected them to have a pretty good feel for the things that we do," head coach Mike Raimbault said. "And I thought they did a really good job making some adjustments to their defensive game plan that caused us some disruptions."

Anthony Tsegakele had 20 points to lead five Bobcats in double digits. Sultan Bhatti and Jahmaal Gardner both chipped in with 11 and Ampofo added 10. 

The Bobcats, who entered the month of December as one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, once again struggled against the Wesmen defence, shooting 4-for-22 from three. In their three meetings this season, the Wesmen have held Brandon to 24 per cent shooting from the perimeter. 

The Wesmen, meanwhile, were 11-for-25 from three.

Winnipeg and Ottawa will meet in the championship final at 8 p.m.