MacEwan Athletics and UBCO Athletics
KELOWNA, B.C. – Another slow start proved costly to the MacEwan Griffins, who succumbed to their 16th-straight defeat – a 72-59 loss to the UBC-Okanagan Heat on Saturday.
Outscored 25-9 in the opening quarter, the Griffins were unable to get closer than seven behind the rest of the way. The slow start mirrored their exact problem in Friday's 83-81 setback to the Heat when they dug an early 29-15 hole and couldn't recover.
"It was the same thing against Calgary, so It's a systemic issue that we have to address – how we start games, how we compete in that first 10 minutes of play," said Griffins interim head coach Ken Schildroth.
He noted they tried to take advantage of UBCO's smaller lineup by working the inside early in the contest. But shots just weren't falling for the Griffins.
"They're a really small team – they don't have anyone taller than 6-foot-6," said Schildroth. "The first night we tried to go big and tonight we started big and got off to such a terrible start that we went to small ball.
"That was effective. We were within 10 and we were chipping away at it."
But not enough shots fell for the Griffins, who ended up firing at just a 30.4 per cent clip from the field went stone cold (6-for-25) from behind the arc.
UBCO, on the other hand, hit 14 threes on 27 attempts and were 45.8 per cent from the field.
"They shot really well again. Their shooting percentage from the three-point line was again quite impressive," said Schildroth. "We had two quarters where we went 4-for-18."
Deonte Doslov-Doctor led the Griffins with 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals, while Jake Notice chipped in 11 points. Alex Jap narrowly missed the first double double of his university career with nine points and nine boards in 22 minutes off the bench, while Griffin Lorenz also subbed in to score nine in 18 minutes.
"A bright spot was Griffin Lorenz, who came in and had quality minutes," said Schildroth of the rookie.
Abdullah Shittu added seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks to increase his school record to 35 on the season and remain second-best in Canada West.
Triston Matthews led the UBCO attack with 21 points on the night while Hafith Moallin had 19 points and nine assists for the home team. Senior Aldrich Berrios was extremely efficient all night long, finishing with 18 points on just 11 shot attempts to go with seven boards and four assists.
Heat head coach Ken Olynyk praised his team's performance, which moves them into the final playoff spot in Canada West at 7-11, but most of the teams around them have two games in hand.
"We need a win to keep our hopes alive and I credit the guys because we played hard and we did a good job and now we've got a chance, which is all we can ask for," he said.
The Heat will now head into a crucial two-game weekend series next weekend in Kelowna against the team currently a game back of them in the standings – the 6-10 Victoria Vikes.
MacEwan (0-16) heads home to host Brandon (2-14) on Jan. 25-26. Playoffs aren't going to happen for the Griffins this year, so it's about finishing up a regular season that also has remaining games at Victoria on Feb. 1-2 on a high note. They'd dearly love to net a win before 2018-19 comes to an end.
"We just have to shoot the ball better," said Schildroth. "We've got four more games to finish out the season and I'm optimistic that our team will rise to the challenge and finish up strong."
