Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins knew they'd be in tough against the Alberta Golden Bears, and while they didn't come away with the win, they certainly made their cross-town rivals work for it.
It was a battle of veteran presence versus rookie inexperience, and the Griffins battled Alberta hard, but fell 82-60 on Friday night at the David Atkinson gymnasium.
Scottie Austin led MacEwan with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Milan Jaksic chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds in the loss.
Adam Paige led Alberta with 14 points, while Abdullah Shittu and Daniel McLaren had 12 points each.
"The thing about young teams is they can be inconsistent, and at times we were right there with them," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly.
"The turnovers we made really hurt us, but the guys didn't quit and we kept battling and played with a lot of heart."
It was a real rough start for MacEwan as they trailed 21-7 after the first quarter after the Golden Bears ran out to a 13-2 start.
But the Griffins showed they weren't going to back down. They scratched and clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter and went on a 12-4 run of their own.
Austin scored six of his 21 points in the second quarter and Jaksic made a couple strong layups to cut the Bears lead to just 27-20.
The second quarter against Alberta was one of their best of the season, as they held Alberta to just 16.6% shooting (3-of-18) in the quarter.
Down 32-22 at the half, the Griffins certainly wanted to ride that momentum from their strong second quarter play, but the experience and composure from the Bears certainly came through in the third quarter.
Alberta found their shooting stroke, particularly beyond the arc. They hit just three from long distance in the first half, but finished the game shooting 42.9% from three-point land (12-28), including six in the fourth quarter.
"They got hot from distance, they hit like four or five threes in a row and we got disjointed and didn't rotate and we had to try and regroup," said Connolly.
"When you have a bunch of 19-year-old kids versus a bunch of fifth-years, it comes down to focus, and we're still learning.
"I like the effort and the energy and the passion. The guys are giving up, and we can do a lot with that. We made (Alberta) work for it. It comes down to respect and character and guys battled and we have to take care of the mistakes we made. The mistakes we made hurt us."
The Griffins can certainly be pleased with the performance from Austin, who set season-highs in points (21) and rebounds (10).
M��| FINAL
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 21, 2023
Scottie Austin gets hot in the fourth quarter as @MacewanBasketb1 shows a strong fight to the finish in this one.@BearsandPandas will prevail for an 82-60 win in @CanadaWest action. Stay tuned for a recap.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/cxpmwDSsd8
"The biggest thing with Scottie was for the first game all year he was really attentive on defence," said Connolly.
"He was locked in today, and I think that really affected his shot. When he got going we wanted to keep giving him the ball."
MacEwan will finish their weekend series against Alberta, tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. (David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
