By Brett Hopper

WINNIPEG – The Bisons (4-13) came home Friday night, after splitting a pair of games against teams from B.C., to play the number-three ranked Brandon Bobcats  (15-2) at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. Having only lost twice in conference play, The Bobcats would be a tough challenge for the Herd despite their excellent play in recent weeks.

After a hard fought game on both sides, the Bobcats left the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday night with an 87-64 win.

“We have to win tomorrow, “ said head coach Rick Suffield. “There is no doubt about it, if we want to get in to the playoffs we need to win against Brandon.”

It was relatively slow going for both teams in the first minutes of the opening quarter. Shortly after a 4-4 tie, after four minutes of play, the Bobcats broke this game wide open going on an 11-2 run to go up in the game. Going into the second frame, the score was 22-13 for the Cats.

The Bisons were able to keep the game within six points for much of the second quarter, but as expected, with their aggressive offence and tough defence, the Bobcats started to pull away once more taking a 41-30 lead into recess.

Isaac Ansah was the main threat for the herd in the opening half scoring 12 points, while the Bobcats’ David Michel had 12 points of his own.

With the score 55-38 for Brandon midway through the third, Manitoba were looking sluggish and sloppy around the basket committing plenty of unnecessary fouls. Closing out the quarter, the Bobcats went on a 15-8 run to take a 70-46 lead into the last quarter of play.

As dominant as Brandon was in the third, they had even more presence in the fourth, starting the frame on a 9-2 run and building on their nearly 30-point lead. With two minutes left in the quarter, and the score 85-59 for the Bobcats it was evident that the Herd was merely going through the motions to close out the game.

The co-captains for the Bisons, Isaac Ansah and Darcy Coss had 16 and 15 points respectively, while Adam Hartman led all players with 22 points for the Bobcats.

“With the exception of the last seven minutes, our energy was brutal,” Suffield said, after the game. “Brandon is number three for a reason, but there is no excuse for our output tonight.”

The rematch goes tomorrow night, Saturday January 26, at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. The game starts at 8:15 pm.