Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The taste of victory so foreign that it had been nearly a full calendar year since their last one, the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team understandably broke into a wild celebration after the seconds ran off the clock in a 103-95 win over the Brandon University Bobcats on Friday night.
Cued by Dustin Gatzki's emphatic dunk with 7.5 seconds left to put the icing on their first victory of the 2018-19 Canada West season, the Griffins leapt off the bench, jumped into each other's arms and ignited a crowd that finally had a reason to go home with a spring in their step.
The victory, MacEwan's first in Canada West regular season play since Feb. 3 of last season when they beat Trinity Western in overtime – 356 days ago, if you were scoring at home – moves the Griffins to 1-16. Brandon falls to 2-15 with their eighth-straight loss.
"It was a long time coming," said a relieved and overjoyed Jake Notice after scoring a game-high 32 points to lead the effort. "We've had a lot of close games leading up this, but we finally managed to close it out. It's a great feeling, honestly."
Notice was electric and at his best in the final 10 minutes when he scored 15 points on 5-for-7 from the field – an effort which included lane-slashing jukes into the paint, trips to the line and two three-pointers.
Gatzki scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth, narrowly missing a double double with nine rebounds, adding a game-high four steals.
"I'm really proud of a really solid team effort," said MacEwan interim head coach Ken Schildroth. "I'm proud of them staying together as a group through adversity. It really came through in spades. We put in a couple of new offences and defences and they responded really well, and it became a rallying point, particularly in the second half."
Harrison Lane added 11 points in 26 minutes of work in the second-last home game of his university career before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Deonte Doslov-Doctor also scored 11 to go along with eight rebounds and five assists, while rookie Alex Jap's game went far beyond his six points as he was a force inside, particularly defensively in 27 minutes off the bench.
It's the fifth time this season that Brandon has allowed a team to hit triple-digits.
"Hat's off to them," said Brandon head coach Gil Cheung. "That's great. They got their first win. They made some shots. We broke down defensively, too. It wasn't a great effort that last quarter. We've got to be better tomorrow night."
Offensively, though, they almost hit the mark themselves as Tyvon Cooper bucketed 24 points, adding seven boards and five assists, while Jaleel Webb dropped 22, Troy Grant struck for 18 and Josh Bell poured in 14 in 24 minutes off the bench.
They're a speedy team that you don't really want to get in a track meet with, and that's how the Griffins fell behind early in the contest before settling in and finding success through the middle on both ends of the court, leaning on a size advantage to turn the result in their favour.
"They do a really good job of pushing the pace on offence, but I feel we've had a good amount of effort in our last few games, especially – maybe starting with U of C," said Notice of playing undefeated Calgary hard earlier this month. "From there, we put our focus on offensive and defensive intensity and that carried over to the win, I think."
For Brandon, the defeat is a tough one to take, particularly because they held the lead for much of the contest. When their fast break transition game is rolling, they're tough to slow down.
"For sure," agreed Cheung. "We're not the biggest team. We're athletic and have some guys who can make plays in the open court.
"It wasn't the offence, let's be honest. We scored 95. We just couldn't get a stop."
So, the Griffins will hit their pillows tonight with a massive weight off their shoulders after finally getting into the win column.
"Obviously we always had faith that the win was going to come," said Notice. "Didn't know when. It's a great feeling that it finally has. We can go home and get ready for the game tomorrow and hopefully do the same thing."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (7 p.m., David Atkinson Gym).
