The Golden Bears came out strong, jumping out to a 12 point lead. However, the Bisons showed resilience, fighting back to tie the score at 31-31 by halftime.
The second half turned into a thrilling back-and-forth battle, with both teams displaying tenacious defense and earning every basket.
With the Bisons clinging to a one-point lead and possession of the ball with 19 seconds left, controversy struck. The referees failed to notice the ball grazing the rim and called a time-count violation against the Herd. On the ensuing possession, Alberta capitalized with a perfectly executed backdoor layup, taking a one-point lead.
The Bisons called a timeout with 9 seconds remaining, designing a play for the winning basket. Unfortunately, a costly turnover forced them to foul with just 2 seconds on the clock.
Nash Semeniuk, who delivered an outstanding performance for Alberta, calmly sank the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, sealing a hard-fought two-point victory for the Golden Bears.
The Golden Bears improve to 5-9, while the Bisons drop to 11-3, now tied with Calgary for second place in the Prairie Division. With Winnipeg’s victory over Regina last night, the Wesmen move into sole possession of first place with a 12-2 record. This sets up a pivotal showdown for the Bisons next weekend, as they face the Wesmen in an important two-game series—Friday (8 PM) at home and Saturday (7 PM) at the Duckworth Centre.
