EDMONTON – With all their new coach has done for them this season, Friday afternoon was the moment for Griffins men's basketball players to pay him back.

David Kapinga was going up against his mentor and former coach with the University of Calgary Dinos – Dan Vanhooren – for the first time in Canada West competition.

What resulted was a 93-84 win for the Griffins – a landmark achievement as the program's first ever win over the Dinos since joining U SPORTS in 2014.

Kapinga spoke before the game with his former coach, who gave him a chance as a walk-on with the Dinos in 2015, and together they led Calgary to the 2018 U SPORTS championship title.
To best him in a head-to-head matchup means the world to Kapinga, who has nothing but love and respect for his mentor.

"It feels amazing," he said. "The greatest feeling right now for me is the players understood the points of today's game, they played their hearts out, and they said, 'we're doing this for you.' I think the connection that we've built in just six short months speaks volumes on the culture and where we're going right now. 

"I was really, really happy with the result, obviously with the execution of the game plan. And even just battling with coach Dan was something. It's all love. It's competition. 

"He's somebody who's taught me a lot," he added. "Now I understand behind the curtain. I understand what he was going through to create the culture that we had. That's something I'm going through right now. It was really good talking to him about that. It just solidifies the love that we have for each other."

With the result, the Griffins snap an eight-game losing streak and improve to 3-10, keeping their playoff chances afloat. Calgary falls to 7-6.

The Dinos got double doubles from both Dre Francis (24 points, 16 rebounds) and Hayden Franson (14 points, 10 rebounds), while Mrigendra Dhaliwal had 19 points and six steals, and Eli Djordjevic bucketed 12.

MacEwan also had four players in double digits: Diego Presingular (15 points, six assists), Dami Osuma (14 points, five assists), Janda (12 points, eight rebounds) and rookie Khushal Shukla (11 points, nine boards and four assists).

Also impressive was the consistency the Griffins displayed throughout the contest. They led 23-18 after the first quarter, stretched it to 46-37 at the half and stayed on top throughout, matching Calgary (21-21 in Q3 and 26-26 in Q4) the rest of the way to post the win.

In past close games, they've found a way to lose, but once the Griffins got a 10-point lead late, Calgary played the foul game, and MacEwan didn't flinch.

Now the challenge will be to repeat the feat against a Dinos team sure to make adjustments for the rematch at 5 p.m. on Saturday.