Marcus ISO Moore, seen in action on Friday night at MRU, led the Griffins with 16 points on Saturday (MRU Athletics photo).
Marcus ISO Moore, seen in action on Friday night at MRU, led the Griffins with 16 points on Saturday (MRU Athletics photo).
November 16, 2025

Solid response from Griffins, but they couldn't sustain it in second half, falling 69-48 to Mount Royal

Box Score

MacEwan Athletics

CALGARY – A strong first half that had them within a point of the Mount Royal Cougars wasn't sustained by the Griffins men's basketball team in a 69-48 defeat on Saturday.

At the very least, it was the kind of response head coach David Kapinga was looking for from Friday's 84-60 setback.

"100 per cent," he said. "Guys were fighting really well in the first half and responded really well defensively and really just adjusting to the things that hurt us last night. I would say for sure in the first half we did and in the second half, some of those things came back and haunted us. It took a bit to adjust and by that time it was a bit of distance between the teams by then."

With the result, the Griffins drop back to 2-6, while MRU improves to 5-3.

Marcus ISO Moore led MacEwan with 16 points, while Diego Presingular had 15. Milan Jaksic hit double digits in rebounds with 10.

"Milan came with a great attitude today and pushed," said Kapinga. "Same thing with Nathanael (Ntumba). In the half he was able to play, he was on every board, just grabbing every rebound that he could and doing a lot of disruption defensively. Those two guys really stood out."

The big lesson mined out of the contest is how to overcome adversity.

"Facing adversity is something some of our guys didn't really notice," said Kapinga. "Some people are trying to win just like you're trying to win. 

"I think that was one of the big lessons that we have to give 100 per cent effort for 40 minutes. That's really the big thing that we preached all day today from shoot to film. I felt like they did a good job of that. Now we just have to add a little bit more of skill set."

The Griffins will host cross-town rival Alberta next weekend.