It took about two minutes for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies mens basketball team to overtake the visiting University of Regina Cougars during their Feb. 18 home game. The team has been playing extremely well this season and now sits atop of Canada West in CIS basketball with a 16-4 record.
"I guess I'm pretty proud of the fact that we set a goal at the start of the season and we put ourselves in a position to achieve it," said forward Chris Unsworth. "I guess I'm proud of ending the regular season being in first and now I'm really excited and looking forward to playoffs."
About 1,600 people packed the U of S gym to watch the two men's basketball teams go head-to-head last Saturday night.
About two minutes into the first quarter the score was 4-0 Regina. But the dogs were able to even up the score by 6:30 to 9-8 Huskies after a three-point shot by Duncan Jones, a jump shot by Unsworth, two free throws by Peter Lomura and a jump by Michael Lieffers. Unsworth, a Piapot native, shone technically making baskets, but also making blocks, assists and defensive rebounds. Unsworth's game was particularly good during the last two quarters of play.
He made a block at 6:55 in the first and another jump shot at 6:25 to take it to 11-8 Huskies. Unsworth made an offensive rebound at 4:21 and another jump shot at 1:44, which brought the point tally to 25-17 for the Huskies.
The second quarter started out with a steal by Matthew Forbes which led to a jump shot by  Jones and a 32-19 lead for the home team.
A few more points by Ben Baker, Jamelle Barrett, Lieffers, Jones, Forbes and a dunk by Jones had the score at 47-24 with five minutes left in the second quarter. The score at half-time was 57-33 Huskies.
Unsworth made an assist to a three-point shot by Jones, which brought the home team to 62-33 in the third.
The Huskies began pulling away from Regina in the third, and by the buzzer the score was 87-50 Huskies.
At the start of the fourth Unsworth got an offensive rebound, and 10 seconds later made two free throw shots bringing the score to 89-52 Huskies. At 8:52 he came back with a successful jump shot to nudge the team up by two points to 91-52. Unsworth made another defensive rebound before teammates Barrett,  Jones and Andrew Henry racked up the score to almost double the visiting Regina team at 101-57 Huskies. 
Jumps by Baker, Nick Foth and Evan Ostertag's free throw and jump shot sealed the Huskies' game with a 110-70 victory.
During Saturday's game Unsworth earned 16 points for the team. Top points makers were Jones (24), Barrett (23), Lomuro (24) and Lieffers with (28).
This season the Huskies have had an impressive 10-game winning streak. Since the start of the season the team has faced and defeated Regina twice.
Now the team is working towards the first round of CIS quarter finals.
Unsworth says he's definitely thinking about the game.
"Oh yeah, it's only a couple of days away," he said. "When you get into this part of the year it's all about taking it one day one game at a time and win the small battles first and the big picture will take care of itself."
This year the Huskies will lose four players after their fifth and final year of CIS eligibility. The team will lose starters Jones, Lieffers, Unsworth and Peter Lomuro.
In his fifth year, Unsworth considers this season one of his personal bests.
"Stepping into a leadership role your fifth year – fifth year players are your oldest, and they need to be your leaders because they are the most experienced and yes, I'm having a lot of fun with it," he said.
Since the Huskies have finished first in Canada West, they also qualify to host the CIS quarter finals.
The team will take on the Trinity Western University Spartans at home in a series of three games from Feb. 24-26. Game one is scheduled for Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.