The Hamilton Tiger-Cats had multiple chances throughout the game on Thursday night to put the Saskatchewan Roughriders away, but they could never land that knock out punch.

The Riders remained standing on the ropes long enough for their offence to finally break out when Marcus Thigpen found a hole and ran 34 yards into the end zone with 1:50 remaining to put Saskatchewan in front for good.

After suffering a humbling defeat to Montreal just five days earlier, the Riders returned to the win column with a 18-13 triumph over the Ti-Cats at Mosaic Stadium.

"Ten years from now, you probably won't remember it, you'll just remember that we won the game," said Riders head coach Chris Jones after the win.

"It's a big win, the pressure to win every week is big, but to come up and to play big in the fourth quarter with some guys that people aren't expecting to make those plays, that's what I'm most proud of."

While the entire team needed a bounce back performance after last week’s loss to Montreal, Thigpen said that the way that game played out was eating at him all week and he wanted to come up big for his team.

"That was on my mind all week, they say let go of the game, but I couldn't let it go because that's not me and I wanted to get out there and show what I really could do and it worked out tonight," said Thigpen, who finished with five carries for 48 yards in the win.

"I want to give this team a spark, I want to hit that home run threat, I want to be able to let them know that they can trust me, if everything is going wrong, I want to be the guy that makes everybody know I'm going to do my part."

Quarterback David Watford, who split time with Brandon Bridge throughout the game, led the Riders with 50 yards on seven carries. 

Saskatchewan ended up with 150 yards along the ground in the win.

The offence won the game in the end for the Riders, but they wouldn't have been in that position if not for the defence.

As the Riders' offence sputtered early in the game, the defence kept the score within reach, forcing the Ti-Cats to continuously settle for field goals. The defence also scored the only points of the first half for the Riders, as defensive end Charleston Hughes stripped quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.

"It was kind of like a time warp, everything slowed down at that moment and I'm just like, 'Make sure I catch the ball, alright, now run'," said Hughes on his momentum changing play.

Hughes' touchdown gave the Riders a 6-4 lead and was one of seven lead changes in the game, which was the most for a CFL game since July 18, 2014.

Bridge settled in a bit more for the Riders in his second start, finishing the night 11-of-13 for 101 yards, while Watford went 3-of-6 for 47 yards.

The Riders gave each quarterback two series back-to-back before switching throughout the game. Bridge said that made it tough to find a rhythm.

"We made the best of it, those are the cards that you're dealt," said Bridge. "It was very strange, I've never been a part of that, it's hard to get into a rhythm, but I can't control that and I just have to go out there and execute whatever I can do."

Bridge made a key throw to Josh Stanford for 29 yards to set up Thigpen’s run into the end zone on the next play. The throw displayed the arm strength that Bridge brings to the table and was his best of the day.

"Our quarterbacks, it is what it is until we figure it out," said Jones. "I want more out of them, I'm hard on them. They both have unique qualities, so we're just going to keep grinding until we figure it out."

Masoli finished 23-of-43 for 333 yards, his ninth straight game with over 300 yards passing, dating back to last season.

The Ti-Cats came out of the gates and were running the ball well on the Riders, but Saskatchewan adjusted and held Hamilton to under 100 yards rushing, while also keeping them out of the end zone.

Defensive lineman Tobi Antigha, who picked off Masoli early in the fourth quarter, said the defence was confident that they could hold long enough for the offence to get going.

"As a defence, we know we're strong, we know we've got players all over the field, so we know that in order to give our offence the best opportunity to move the ball, we've got to play well, that's the kind of responsibility that we put on ourselves each week," said Antigha.

Kicker Brett Lauther was 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 52-yard bomb, while Josh Bartel and the punting unit helped Saskatchewan win the field position battle throughout the night.

The Riders are now 2-2 as they prepare to head into their bye week in Week 5. They return to game action on July 19 in Hamilton.