Dami Osuma, playing in his final university game, led the Griffins with 11 rebounds and eight points (Charlotte Legrand photo).
Dami Osuma, playing in his final university game, led the Griffins with 11 rebounds and eight points (Charlotte Legrand photo).
February 8, 2026

Griffins end on a sour note after running into playoff-ready Regina in 85-54 loss

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Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins have taken some steps forward and showed solid signs of growth this season, but the final game of the regular season against the Regina Cougars will likely leave a bit of a sour taste in their mouth. 

Regina started red-hot from the opening tip and smothered the Griffins defensively. The Cougars held a 15-point lead after the first quarter, a 29 point lead at the half, and they never looked back in a 85-54 win over MacEwan on Saturday at the David Atkinson gym.

"It definitely does leave a bad taste, but credit to Regina, they were aggressive, and they showed they're a veteran team and that they're a strong playoff team against us," said Griffins head coach David Kapinga.

"We wish we played better, and we needed some plays to go our way, but it didn't, and that's basketball sometimes, but now we got to take the off-season and focus on getting better."

Favour Igbinyemi led the Griffins with 10 points off the bench, while graduating seniors Milan Jaksic, Dami Osuma and Job Janda had nine, eight and six points respectively in their final game as a Griffin.

Osuma almost had a double-double after hauling in 11 rebounds, and Jaksic chipped in with four steals.

One night after Ben Kamba torched MacEwan with 32 points, Lodie Kenyl scored 22 of his team-leading 26 points in the first half, while Sufyan Elkannan chipped in with 15 points. Kax Dornstauder almost had a near double-double with 11 points and seven rebounds.

MacEwan fell behind 14-4 early, and after Osuma cut the lead in half at 20-10, Regina went on a 9-4 run, capped off by Eklannan going coast-to-coast with just over three seconds left to make a driving layup off glass as the buzzer sounded to give Regina a 29-14 lead. 

Regina started the second quarter on a 10-0 run to bust the game wide open. Kushal Shukla hit back-to-back layups to stop the bleeding, but the Griffins allowed Regina to score too easily on several possessions.

Regina was able to score on some wide-open layups, offensive rebound and put back a few uncontested dunks in the paint.

"We gave them too many easy buckets, and looks at the rim," said Kapinga.

"They came fighting and they came punching, and that's a testament of them understanding that this is playoff time, and for them that next week it matters, it's win or go home, and they played with that intensity."

Down big entering the second half, the Griffins started to make a lot better plays on the defensive end. After Regina shot 57.5% from the field in the first half and 50% from beyond the arc, the Griffins dug in and held Regina to just eight points. in the third quarter on just 26.7% shooting.

"That was us punching back holding them to eight points in the quarter and us playing with pride. I just wish we were able to do that for 40 minutes. That's the goal," said Kapinga.

"Kudos to them, I think we caught them off guard a bit with our play in the third quarter, and then they reacted and made adjustments, and they were able to get back into their groove in that fourth quarter."

With Saturday's loss, the Griffins finished the year with a 3-17 record. It was a season filled with big ups and downs, but there were plenty of positives that the team and program can build upon moving forward.

Kapinga said his three graduating seniors, Janda, Jaksic and Osuma have definitely left their imprint on the program, and their impact will be felt in the future.

The trio couldn't go out with a storybook ending, but they certainly played their hearts out like they've done throughout their tenure with MacEwan.

"I'm so proud of our seniors. Not just with what they've endured, but what they've been teaching us all year long," said Kapinga.

"People would say in three or four bad seasons, most people would be sad, most people would quit, or come with no energy, but they fought and fought and fought.

"I can say we had games this year where we didn't make shots, or we didn't make plays, but I can't say that these guys didn't try, and they didn't play hard, and when I go into the locker room to talk to these guys, that is what I'm going to be preaching how hard I am of them, and how hard they've worked all season long and for all five years they've been here."

Dami Osuma and family pose with Griffins coaches David Kapinga, left, and Brian Ortiz, right (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Job Janda and family pose for a picture during Senior Day celebrations (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Milan Jaksic and family pose with Griffins coaches (Jefferson Hagen photo).