The Griffins closed their regular season a six-game winning streak sweeping the 13th place King's Eagles, winning the first game 87-80 and the second 87-61.
Freshman Seaid Deria provided much of the offensive punch with 22 points seven rebounds and three assists, good for player of the game honours. Deria can be considered a success story of coach Eric Magdanz's system.
It wasn't an easy road to success for Deria, his natural position was at guard in high school. But under the leadership of coach Magdanz, he was forced to play the power forward position, a position where you don't find players of Deria's wiry physique. Although under the tutelage of assistant coach, Andrew Parker he would begin the transformation to his new position.
He would endure games in which he would hardly play before the turn of the term spelled opportunity for the Ottawa native.
Deria would soon taking more shots per game and found himself in the starting line-up. His hard work transitioning to the power forward position came to fruition Friday night, in addition to driving the lane. He would also drop some threes to show he hasn't fully abandoned his guard-like skill set just yet.
As for the game, the Griffins would fall behind in the first quarter 24-17. MacEwan would then regroup and finish the half leading 41-36, Thomas Jereniuk would again play point for the bulk of the half, finishing with five assists (six by game's end).
The second half would see a resurgent Eagles team cutting the lead to just one at the end of the third quarter, behind strong performances by Craig Batterham and Keith Marshall.
This would set the scene for yet another dramatic finish for the Griffins. Deria and Mony'ele would go to work to put the Eagles away, taking the majority of the shots in the final frame. A late three by Deria would turn out to be the dagger for the final home game of the regular season.
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| Deria has worked to become a weapon offensively. Photo by Dat Bui |
The second half would see a resurgent Eagles team cutting the lead to just one at the end of the third quarter, behind strong performances by Craig Batterham and Keith Marshall.
This would set the scene for yet another dramatic finish for the Griffins. Deria and Mony'ele would go to work to put the Eagles away, taking the majority of the shots in the final frame. A late three by Deria would turn out to be the dagger for the final home game of the regular season.
The pairing of Deria and Mony'ele would combine for 44 field goal attempts by game's end, which was 58% of all shots taken by the Griffins.
The second half of the series would be an easier go for MacEwan, led by a dominant game for big man Keith Gerdes. On top of 22 points, he had his way in the paint with 18 rebounds. No Eagle would exceed 14 points in a suffocating defensive push by the Griffins. King's failed to gain their footing at virtually any point of the game, shooting a collective 31%.
The Griffins are now poised for playoff basketball, seeded 6th in the league. That will put them third in the ACAC's North Division.
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