Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins men's basketball program has a goal of one day being a nationally-ranked program — and they learned a few lessons from U SPORTS No. 5 Winnipeg on Friday.
MacEwan fell behind 28-7 after the first quarter and were forced to dig themselves out of too big of a hole before losing 88-60 to the Wesmen.
"Give credit to Winnipeg. There's a reason why they're nationally ranked. They didn't beat themselves," said Griffins head coach David Kapinga.
"I think after the initial shock… we settled in, and from there on, it was a good basketball game. So, our job tomorrow is to not dig ourselves a hole."
Favour Igbinyemi led MacEwan with 12 points in just 13 minutes off the bench, while Marcus ISO Moore scored 11 points, and Job Janda had 10 points and four rebounds, as the Griffins fell to 1-2 this season.
Alberto Gordo led Winnipeg with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc as the Wesmen improved to 2-0.
Emmanuel Ugbah (17) and Elijah Mensah (14) combined for 31 points off the bench. Ugbah and Mensah hauled in nine rebounds each, as Winnipeg were the more physical team in the win.
"They had a great game plan coming in, and they bullied us all the way to the rim, whether it was big-to-big or guard-to-guard, they just found ways to get into the paint and create havoc," said Kapinga.
After ISO Moore cut Winnipeg's lead to 9-5 early in the opening quarter, the Wesmen went on a 15-0 run to take a commanding lead. That was part of a 21-2 run by Winnipeg into the early stages of the second quarter that pushed the Griffins into far too deep of a hole.
"Kudos to coach Mike Rambault and what he's done with his program. You can see those kids are confident, they can see what's happening and what's going to happen with their coverage, and how they handle our plays," said Kapinga.
Just some silky moves by Diego Presingular as he drops in a late first-quarter bucket!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/N3ZZ1q1z8H
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) November 1, 2025
The Griffins started to find their footing in the second and third quarters. They were outscored 22-19 in the second quarter and trailed 50-25 at halftime, and they outscored the Wesmen 21-20 in the third quarter.
Igbinyemi and Nathanael Ntumba provided a nice spark off the bench for MacEwan. Ntumba finished with seven points and five rebounds in 17 minutes of action.
Both showed a willingness to drive the lane, play physical and score.
MacEwan shot just 33.9 per cent (21-of-62), but they definitely started to play much better after a rough ride in the first quarter.
But Winnipeg made MacEwan work for every bucket they got, and MacEwan had to battle at both ends of the floor.
ISO knocks down a three late in the third!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/mstIG1Aotr
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Basketball Team (@Griffins_MBB) November 1, 2025
"Once we started making our layups, we could set up our defence, and once we set up, we did a pretty good job guarding them," said Kapinga.
"We have to find ways to get in the paint offensively, shoot with confidence and find open guys."
Winnipeg's experience showed in the win over MacEwan. Their perimeter defence made it tough on MacEwan. They seemed to get a hand in the face of Griffins shooters beyond the arc, and they closed out hard.
The Griffins finished just 3-of-15 from three-point range.
The loss stings, but MacEwan can learn a lot from playing against a veteran-laden team like Winnipeg
"For us, we want to get to that level. We want to be at a nationally-ranked level, and to get to that level where we don't beat ourselves, and that's the difference between our two teams right now," said Kapinga.
"We have a lot of bad habits to fix, and we're going to do that. We're going through a growth journey, and it can be a bumpy road."
The Griffins will wrap up their weekend series with Winnipeg on Saturday (3 p.m.). The game is free to all spectators as part of MacEwan's Open House celebrations.
