MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – With a hot early hand, the Griffins men's basketball team shocked the Saville Centre, jumping out to a 20-0 first quarter lead against the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday night.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't last as the hosts chipped away at the deficit throughout the night and put it to bed in the fourth quarter as the Griffins fell 77-64.
"We jumped out to a good lead and played well in the first half," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly. " It was a good defensive effort, combined with well executed offence.
"Poor defensive focus, along with missed defensive rebounding opportunities allowed them to jump on us. We just had a bad stretch in the fourth. Ineffective defence, combined with an offensive slump killed any chance we had."
With the result, MacEwan falls to 2-17 on the season, while Alberta improves to 9-10.
Diego Presingular scored 12 of his team-leading 19 points in the first quarter as he went five-for-nine from beyond the arc – the third-best single game three-point shooting performance by a Griffins rookie in Canada West play. He added four assists, four steals and three rebounds.
This Diego Presingular three put the Griffins up 20-0 in the first quarter at the Saville Centre!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/5NDjJyYVdE
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) February 15, 2025
Job Janda had 17 points and five boards, while Milan Jaksic chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds for MacEwan.
"Job was solid leading the way defending, rebounding and scoring," said Connolly. "It was nice to see him play. Diego opened the game with a hot hand, shooting the ball well in the first half."
Alberta got 33 points from Isaac Simon, while Max Russel chipped in 10 and Kyle Varner had seven points and 10 boards.
The Griffins' lead was cut to 40-31 at half-time and barely existed by the time the third quarter was over as MacEwan led just 51-48.
Uncharacteristically for the Griffins – who have been a great fourth quarter team this season – they were outscored by 16 points in the final 10 minutes.
Nevertheless, they'll take the positives out of it and get ready for Saturday's rematch (7 p.m., Saville Centre, Canada West TV).
"Guys had great energy and worked hard," said Connolly. "There is no questioning their competitive desire."
