Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Working together with a gritty effort in a riveting rebound from a lackluster performance a night earlier, the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team was within a point of the UNBC Timberwolves midway through the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, the T'Wolves made more shots down the stretch and emerged with an 83-77 victory.
"I think we came out and played hard," Griffins guard Justace Byam told UNBC Athletics. "We were off to a slow start, but we picked it up in the second quarter and second half. It was a lot better than last night. I feel like the more we play together and play hard, hopefully we'll end up with some wins."
The result drops the Griffins to 0-6 on the Canada West season, while UNBC improves to 3-1.
Matthew Osunde led MacEwan with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Byam had 16 points and six assists.
"It was a much better overall effort," said head coach Mike Connolly. "We had better communication and efforts. Justace Byam had his best game so far as a Griffin, notching 16 points and six assists before fouling out with five minutes to go. Matty led all scorers with 21, while Job Janda had 12 and Thai Haak contributed 11, all with really solid efforts. Milan (Jaksic) led the team in rebounds with nine.
Spencer Ledoux led the T'Wolves with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while three others scored in double digits – Justin Sunga (12), Darren Hunter (12) and Josh Gillespie (11).
The Griffins trailed just 67-66 when Osunde made two free throws with 6:41 left, but they could never grab the lead as UNBC hit back with a 6-0 run and never looked back. MacEwan's scrappy play continued right to the end, though, which is something they can build off of.
"We need this effort and intensity all the time," said Connolly. "I'm happy the guys responded after last night's effort. But we are done with moral victories and need to stick with this to keep moving forward."
MacEwan heads into a bye week before hosting UBC on Dec. 1-2.
"I think we just have to work on sticking together," said Byam. "We're facing some adversity, a lot of close games, some tough games off the back-to-backs. Being a young team and new team, the main thing is just staying together and continuing to work – not losing hope or losing faith, but going back on Monday, back to the drawing board and just trying to improve for UBC in two weeks."
