MacEwan Athletics and Wesmen Athletics
WINNIPEG, Man. – Cold shooting bled into lost confidence on the defensive end as the Griffins men's basketball team fell behind by as many as 33 points to the U SPORTS No. 4 Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday night.
They wound up on the losing end of an 88-56 score after shooting just 39 per cent from the field in the contest.
"We struggled to shoot the ball this weekend and tonight," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly. "We shot 23 per cent from three and 39 per cent from the floor. This affected us in our effort in the third quarter. We had a bad second quarter that ran into the third.
"We let the easy misses affect our focus to defend, allowing them too many easy baskets."
With the result, the Griffins fall to 0-6 on the season, while the Wesmen improve to 5-0.
Kato Jaro led Winnipeg with 19 points, while Malachi Alexander had 17, Mason Chartrand 14 and Alberto Gordo 13 as the Wesmen held a team under 60 points for the third time this season, improving their average against to 60.0, tops in the nation.
MacEwan got a stellar effort from captain Job Janda, who had a game-high 20 points and six rebounds in 33 minutes on the court – the most of any other player.
"Job Janda was our best competitor," said Connolly.
HALF | Solid ball movement and a sweet dish from Filip Karanovic leads to a nice bucket underneath for Job Janda.@MacEwanGriffins trail @WesmenMBB 43-25 at the half in #YWG
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) November 23, 2024
Janda leads MacEwan with 10 points.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/fxlp53VmP3
Dami Osuma chipped in nine points, while Filip Karanovic had eight points, four assists and three steals.
MacEwan had a decent start to the contest, leading 11-7 on a Diego Presingular three 4:30 into the game, but then they surrendered nine straight and never led again.
Winnipeg was up 20-15 after one quarter, led 43-25 at the half and 69-45 after 30 minutes before sealing the final result.
"We need to put this behind us and prepare for Brandon," said Connolly. "We are tired and beat down. We need to take a day and use this week to regroup for our next opponent."
That will come Nov. 29-30 when the Griffins host the Bobcats, including in a Showcase 'School Day' game on Friday (2 p.m.).
