Final score: Manitoba 88, Acadia 84.

4:00 — Acadia has two looks at three from Leighton and they both rim out.

3:59 — Berry fouls out with Acadia having to foul. Ansah to the line and he hits two with 22.7 left. Plenty of time for an AU look.

3:57 — Coss again! He replies with another two, 85-84 Manitoba with 28.3 left and UM with possession. Timeout on the floor. Coss has 36 and has been splendid when the Bisons have needed him. Acadia has done its best to keep Ansah away from the ball, so Coss’ makes are gigantic.

3:56 — Coss another one, a fall away two. But Saintil a putback makes it 84-83 AU with 45 and counting left

3:55 — Acadia gets the next hoop, a Saintl lay up.

3:54 — Pressure in the full court forces an AU turnover.

3:53 — An Acadia turnover then a foul puts Ansah on the line and he makes both, Manitoba back in front 81-80. He has 23, Coss has 32

3:52 — Kraus a pair of FTs, 80-76. Coss has been big. Another three, to cut it to one.

3:51 — Joel Pankewich a steal and lay up for Manitoba.

3:50 — Leighton is heating up and that’s not good for Manitoba. He just hit a three in the corner to open the OT scoring. Manitoba gets two back on the other end 75-74, but another three from Leighton ups the lead to four.

3:49 — UM’s ball to start the OT period.

3:46 — With one second left, Coss’ desperation heave from three is short, so we’re going to OT. After the two costly turnovers, someone has to check on AU coach Les Berry to make sure he hasn’t committed a homocide.

3:45 — Ansah a three! Off a turnover on the inbound, now Acadia turns it over with a back-over

3:43 — Coss a three off a screen goes airball out of bounds. 22 seconds left so Manitoba has to foul down three. Timeout UM. Also, Acadia is an AUS-worst 58.8 per cent free throw shooting team.

3:41 — The Bisons are going to get a chance to tie. Berry at the line and misses both with 38 seconds left but the Axemen tip the rebound back to Berry who lays it in. 35.6 seconds left, timeout UM, AU leading 72-69. Plenty of time to execute and get a look. UM will inbound from halfcourt.

3:40 — Bison ball. Coss gets fouled to shoot two and he makes the first and clanks the second. Under a minute left…

3:39 — Coss a gigantic pull up three to cut the lead to two. 1:26 to go. Dean has fouled out but neither team is in the penalty yet.

3:38 — Leighton another three, 70-65 and then a huge Saintil block on Ansah at the other end, Acadia’s ball with under 2 to go.

3:33 — Now Leighton, who shoots the three at 50 per cent in conference, hits a three. Kraus has a fast break layup and the guy who was in the dunk competition changes his mind in mid-air and blows a lay-up that would have put his team up by six with 3:20 left. As it is it’s 67-63 AU and the Bisons have two free throws coming after a foul on the other end.

3:31 — Graeme Mitchell takes a foul on an Acadia fastbreak, Peter Leighton hits two free throws to make it 63-62, UM. But Acadia has just jumped in front with a Luckern Dieu hoop.

3:28 — Uh, Shawn Berry is an athlete. After the Axemen moved the ball around him, found him in the corner and the Bisons failed to rotate on him, he drove baseline and threw down a two-hander over a Bison defender. Another lay-up for Acadia, 61-60 with 5:30 to go.

3:26 — Coss hits a big three but Saintil is all alone on the other end for a lay-up, the second straight such hoop for Acadia. 61-54.

3:23 — The Bisons are still hustling and working hard for the ball, but their shot selection has been suspect in this run of Acadia’s. The Axemen aren’t producing a lot on offence, but the Bisons seem to have to work a lot harder for their hoops. Myron Dean just scored a lay-up that made it 57-50 early in the fourth.

3:18 — As Acadia chips away — the score is 55-50 after three — it’s a good time to mention that the Bisons are 1-4 in one-possession games this season and 1-10 in games decided by 10 points or less.

3:14 — Kraus hits a three and suddenly it’s 53-47 with 3 left in the third.

3:09 — Acadia’s doing its best to muster a run, but Darcy Coss put an end to five straight Axemen points with a three-pointer that made it 53-41 with 5 left in the third.

2:50 — More self-destruction from the Axemen. While getting a chance to play for last shot, Shawn Berry turns it over on a carry, then Isaac Ansah gets fouled with zeroes on the clock, giving Manitoba two more points on the free-throw line. Halftime it’s Manitoba 49, Acadia 34.

2:44 — A FRACAS! Andy Kraus of Acadia and Manitoba’s Darcy Coss get into it with some pushing and shoving and words exchanged. Fun times. Coss got the original foul, now they’re assessing techs to Kraus and Coss, as well as Leonel Saintil for Acadia. The Bisons will get the two technical free throws.

2:40 — Steve Baur takes a timeout for Acadia, trailing 43-29 with 2:15 to go in the half. The Bisons are playing with energy while the Axemen look like a team disinterested in playing in the fifth-place game. No hustle and they’re getting beat to every loose ball.

2:38 — Clarence Smith, the transfer from Lakeland College, just hit a three for Manitoba and the Bisons stretch their lead to 10, 39-29, with 3 to go in the second. A lay-up from Isaac Ansah just made the lead 12 points

2:30 — Interesting development here in the fifth-place final where the Bisons, 1-9 in Canada West conference play, have a 31-25 lead on the No. 2-ranked Axemen with 6:43 to go in the second quarter.