A second half surge powered the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 31-20 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field on Thursday night.

Marcus Thigpen ran for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of the second half and the Riders were off and running. Saskatchewan would outscore Hamilton 24-3 over the final 30 minutes to secure the win and improve to 3-2 this season.

"We executed in the second half, our guys are very well conditioned, they put a lot of work in the weight room and in training and it felt like that could have been some of the difference… it was a good night," said Riders head coach Chris Jones after the game.

It took the Riders most of the first half to find a groove on offence, but once again their defence did a fantastic job of holding the team in the game as they trailed just 17-7 at halftime.

Thigpen's burst through the line and long TD run was just the spark the offence was looking for.

"After that, the second drive of the second half, we started to get a couple of passes in and then we got that shot play out to Naaman (Roosevelt), after that I felt I was in my groove and I started to feel it," said Riders quarterback Brandon Bridge.

Bridge finished 17-of-22 for 165 yards passing and one touchdown, which came on that second drive of the second half when he connected with Roosevelt for a 20-yard score.

That touchdown gave Saskatchewan its first lead of the game at 21-17.

"Brandon did a real nice job, threw for a very high completion and took care of the football," said Jones.

After a rough first half, the Riders special teams came to life in the second half as well with Christion Jones returning a punt for a 61-yard touchdown that put Saskatchewan in front 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Kicker Brett Lautner connected on his third field goal early in the fourth to make it 31-20.

Riders running back Jerome Messam did the rest, finishing off the win with 52 yards on the final two possessions for Saskatchewan. Messam had 15 carries for 70 yards.

Tre Mason posted 51 yards on seven carries as Saskatchewan finished with 218 rushing yards in the win.

Coming into this week's game, the Riders were ripped by their head coach and some veterans for their practice habits, one of those veterans was offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte, who left Thursday's game in the first half with a lower body injury, but found a way to come back and help his team to the win.

"There wasn't anything that was going to keep him out of that football game, we're certainly hoping that he's okay and can continue on playing," said Jones. 

"It meant a whole lot, it shows that he's a fighter and a warrior," added Bridge. "If he can walk and do something, I know he's going to be out there."

Saskatchewan's defence was able to hold Jeremiah Masoli to under 300 yards, ending his streak of nine straight games surpassing that mark. He was 20-of-28 for 184 yards and one interception.

"He's a great quarterback and we've got to do some different looks and use some different people in different ways, again, we didn't do a great job of covering him tonight, but did enough to win the football game," said Jones.

The Riders are off now until next Saturday when they host the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium. That will be Saskatchewan's first game against the West Division after opening with five straight against the East.