EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins knew they'd be in tough against the Alberta Golden Bears, and while they didn't come away with the win, they certainly made their cross-town rivals work for it.

It was a battle of veteran presence versus rookie inexperience, and the Griffins battled Alberta hard, but fell 82-60 on Friday night at the David Atkinson gymnasium.

Scottie Austin led MacEwan with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Milan Jaksic chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds in the loss.

Adam Paige led Alberta with 14 points, while Abdullah Shittu and Daniel McLaren had 12 points each.

It was a real rough start for MacEwan as they trailed 21-7 after the first quarter after the Golden Bears ran out to a 13-2 start.

But the Griffins showed they weren't going to back down. They scratched and clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter and went on a 12-4 run of their own. 

Austin scored six of his 21 points in the second quarter and Jaksic made a couple strong layups to cut the Bears lead to just 27-20.

The second quarter against Alberta was one of their best of the season, as they held Alberta to just 16.6% shooting (3-of-18) in the quarter.

Down 32-22 at the half, the Griffins certainly wanted to ride that momentum from their strong second quarter play, but the experience and composure from the Bears certainly came through in the third quarter.

Alberta found their shooting stroke, particularly beyond the arc. They hit just three from long distance in the first half, but finished the game shooting 42.9% from three-point land (12-28), including six in the fourth quarter.

MacEwan will finish their weekend series against Alberta, tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. (David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).