Dami Osuma tries to get around Brandon's Max Winters on Friday (Aidan Froese photo).
Dami Osuma tries to get around Brandon's Max Winters on Friday (Aidan Froese photo).
January 31, 2026

Details fall by the wayside in the fourth quarter as Griffins' lead evaporates in 100-89 loss to Bobcats

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

BRANDON, Man. – Up by four entering the fourth quarter on Friday night, the Griffins were in a battle, for sure, but their game had a lot of elements that were working, guiding them towards the shining light of a potential victory.

Then they just stopped doing the things that made them successful.

What resulted was conceding 39 points to the Brandon Bobcats over the final 10 minutes and losing 100-89.

"We were guarding and taking good shots," said head coach David Kapinga of how they gained a 65-61 lead after three quarters. "I thought we were moving the ball well and finding the right guys to shoot the ball. 

"Then we got punched and I felt we kind of let off the gas a little bit and went away from what was working so well for us."

Sultan Haider-Bhatti scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, including hitting three threes. Travis Hamburger hit 11 of his 21 on the night in the final 10 minutes, too, including four free throws.

"It started with a bit of lack of focus mentally and then I thought not finishing our shots, not (finding) shot quality and turning the ball over gave them more momentum," said Kapinga. "They were really hard to guard after that."

The Griffins had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double digits led by captain Job Janda with 15 off the bench. Favour Igbinyemi dropped 14 off the bench, himself, while starters Diego Presingular (13 points, six assists) and Dami Osuma (10 points, seven rebounds) also produced.

"I thought Job was a great leader for us," said Kapinga. "This week was a little bit of a rough week for him, but he didn't let that affect his game on the floor. He was a big part of our foundation today and I hope he can keep doing that tomorrow."

MacEwan falls to 3-14 after the loss, while Brandon improves to 7-10.

A loss like Friday's comes with many lessons the Griffins can take into Saturday's rematch (6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).

"I think they've got to take the message is we are good when we do the right things, when we execute and play well," said Kapinga. "And we're not very good when we don't do the little things. That's the conversation that we've had in the locker-room and it's the conversation I'm going to keep preaching probably until the end of the season."