Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

WINNIPEG – Putting it all together at once remains the great challenge for the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team.

On a night their offence lit the lamp at a solid 50.7 per cent, their defence allowed two Winnipeg players to combine for 48 points.

Ultimately, the game of 'whack-a-mole' led to their eighth defeat in nine games this season – a 93-83 setback in a visit to a fellow non-playoff team. Winnipeg improves to 3-8.

"We played pretty hard. We made some shots tonight, we just struggled to guard," said MacEwan head coach Eric Magdanz. "It's tough to put it all together. Someday we will."

Fifth-year post player Ryan Coleman was a beast for the second-straight game, building off a 21-point, nine rebound performance against UNBC last Saturday with 26 points and eight boards on Friday to pace the Griffins.

"The thing he did tonight is he just played hard," said Magdanz. "He attacked the ball at the rim and ran the floor really well and gave himself a chance to play out of transition.

"You know what, we probably need some more guys to play at that level of intensity and desire."

Ali Raza had 13 points, two blocks, seven rebounds and five assists for MacEwan, while Deonte Doslov-Doctor chipped in 12 points and Jake Notice had 11. Adonis Monfort-Palomino had eight assists to add his name to the MacEwan Canada West record book's top-10 for the fourth time in that stat category.

"It's a little bit interesting. We had four guys in double figures scoring tonight and a couple of other guys who were close to that," said Magdanz. "Scoring wasn't our issue tonight. Our issue was defence.

"We let their two best players do what they wanted. That's with us not following scout and us not taking a matchup upon ourselves to stop them."

Indeed, Winnipeg's Denzel Lynch-Blair (26 points) and Narcisse Ambanza (22 points) ran circles around the Griffins. Sean Tarver chipped in 13.

So, there are some adjustments for the Griffins to make heading into the rematch on Saturday (6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).

"I think a big thing for us is making sure they feel our help early – that every single time they catch the ball that we're going to guard them with more than one player and force them to distribute the ball to other people to make a play," said Magdanz.