Elisha Ampofo led the Griffins with 14 points in Friday's win (Electric Umbrella photo).
Elisha Ampofo led the Griffins with 14 points in Friday's win (Electric Umbrella photo).
October 25, 2025

Kapinga nets first U SPORTS win in a memorable debut as Griffins hold off Huskies 82-80

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

SASKATOON, Sask. – For David Kapinga, the most joyous moment in the aftermath of his memorable first U SPORTS win in his coaching debut – an 82-80 triumph over the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday night – has been seeing his players' reactions.

Many have been beaten down by tough losses that have permeated throughout several seasons in the program. But their faces lit up like Christmas morning on Friday.

"To be honest, it's been a great night so far," said Kapinga, deep into film work when reached at 1:30 a.m., more than three hours after they took down the Huskies for only the second time in program history. "Not even for me, but the players. So many of the players came to me, saying 'hey man, I didn't know it was going to be like this. All the hard work is worth it.' 

"For how we've been going about it, I think that's been my biggest highlight, just the players' feelings like, 'wow, you can win if you do it right. You can win at MacEwan. You can play the right brand of basketball that leads you to good results.' "

The Griffins won just twice last season – the first one a 90-88 triumph over Brandon that busted the program's 75-game losing streak, stretching back five years.

Things are different now, though. Kapinga has been just the breath of fresh air the program needed and the players showed why on Friday.

They held an eight-point lead at half-time and did enough to stay ahead of the Huskies for much of the night, eventually holding a nine-point advantage with 3:22 left. That's where things got a little interesting as the home side went on a 7-0 run to get within two points before the final buzzer bailed the Griffins out.

So many times in the past few seasons, the Griffins would have found a way to lose a game this close. But not on Friday.

"A lot of our practices are very much based on those close games in terms of making sure the scenario resembles the one we saw today," said Kapinga. "Even with all of that, we still almost threw it away. 

"But a lot of the players came up to me after the game, 'oh man, we almost sold that game.' Yeah, you almost did, but if you do your work early in the first three quarters, you get to sustain a punch. They really saw that today. 

"I think we're going to be using a lot of this film for learning purposes. It's going to come in really handy for us throughout the season."

Elisha Ampofo led the Griffins with 14 points, while both Diego Presingular and Dami Osuma chipped in 11. 

When asked who stood out, though, Kapinga didn't hesitate.

"Dele (Osuma). He played out of his mind," he said of the wing's eight-point night with two steals added in. "He's been someone who's been working super hard at practice. When I gave him a challenge, saying 'you guys have not earned a spot on the team. Are you guys OK with being part of this pool where I pick someone every week (out of that) to be top 12. But you will lose your eligibility.' He came to me, 'no doubt I'm in that pool.' 

"And last week when I told him that's he's travelling because he's just been killing it at practice, he gave me a smile and said, 'thank you coach' and walked away. I just knew it was going to be pretty special this weekend for him."

Now the Griffins have an opportunity to make it extra special as they go for the weekend sweep in Saturday's rematch (7 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).

"Very excited," said Kapinga. "We're watching film right now to prepare. We want to sweep. That's the goal when we come here, so we're just preparing for that."