The University of Regina's men's basketball team's fourth-quarter comeback fell just short on Friday as MacEwan held on for an 88-84 win over the Cougars at the City Centre Campus Gym in Edmonton.
MacEwan's Thadius Galvez hit a triple to give MacEwan its largest lead of the game at 72-57 a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, but that's when the Cougars put together a big rally to get right back into it. They responded with a 16-4 run capped by a
Carter Millar putback to make it a one-possession game with just under 90 seconds to go.
MacEwan got the lead back up to six, only to have
Aaron McGowan answer back with a triple to get the Cougars back to within three. But that was as close as they'd come, as MacEwan hit a free throw to go up four and a costly turnover on the next U of R possession all but ended the comeback attempt.
Ryan Coleman came off the bench and went 8-for-9 from the field to lead MacEwan with 21 points, while Keith Gerdes added 17, Denzel James scored 14, and Galvez finished with 13 as the Griffins improve to 1-2 on the season.
Alex Igual was 5-for-9 from three-point range and led all players with 23 points for the Cougars (1-2).
Brandon Tull added 15 points, while McGowan (13 points) and
Johneil Johnson (10) also scored in double figures. McGowan also led the U of R with seven rebounds and six assists, while Johnson had a game-high five steals.
Regina and MacEwan will close out the weekend set on Saturday night (7:00). The game will be webcast live at
www.canadawest.tv.
