Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
-With files from Manitoba Athletics
WINNIPEG – Foul trouble, especially early in the game, hampered the Griffins men's basketball team from mounting a challenge against the first-place Manitoba Bisons in a 91-58 loss Friday night.
The Bisons got to the charity stripe often, gaining a whopping 36 attempts (making 23 of them), while the Griffins were only 11 for 14.
That trend started early as Manitoba built a 28-11 first quarter lead, maintained a 43-27 advantage at the half and then really opened it up in the third quarter, ending it up 67-40.
"It got away from us as the start of the third quarter when we had undisciplined decisions," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly. "We were also undisciplined on our defence and fouled too much. And it wasn't the officials. We had too many undisciplined fouls."
With the result, the Bisons stretch their conference-leading record to 14-1, while the Griffins fall to 0-15.
"They are first in the conference for a reason," said Connolly. "They are good."
Captain Matthew Osunde led the Griffins with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Job Janda chipped in 12 points and six boards in a return from injury that's kept him on the shelf since Jan. 7.
"I thought Job, in his return, did a good job defending their big rookie, holding him to nine points on only six shots taken," said Connolly.
That would be 6-foot-9 Simon Hildebrandt, whom Connolly touted before the weekend as perhaps the best rookie in U SPORTS this season.
Manitoba's top effort came off their bench as Jonam Kazadi put up 16 points, highlighting a glaring difference between the teams – depth.
"Playing without two starters (Hugo Alonso and Isaiah Merk) hurt our depth as their bench kicked ours 51-11," said Connolly.
"We won the battle of (offensive) rebounds, grabbing 11 and holding them to just eight. But it was just a bad night mentally for the group, as a whole. We need to regroup, look in the mirror and be accountable."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
