EDMONTON - Third-year star guard Isaac Simon put a bow on a phenomenal campaign with a game-high 23 points as the Alberta Golden Bears beat the MacEwan Griffins 78-57 in the regular season finale Saturday night at the Saville Centre.

Simon finishes fourth in the conference in scoring, and seems primed for a spot on an all-conference team after leading this young Golden Bears team to a 10-10 record. Fifth-year captain Max Russell added six points in his last regular season game on the Saville Centre court, what is his 130th career game suiting up for the Green and Gold. Alberta will face the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack in yet-to-be determined location as the 10th-seed in the Canada West Playoffs next weekend.

MacEwan ends the year with a 2-18 record, but saw some promising weekend performances from plenty of their lineup, most notably Diego Presingular who led them tonight with 22 points.

Isaac Simon and the Bears started strong in the first, with the third-year guard scoring a quarter-high nine points and adding two steals en route to a 19-11 early lead. The Griffins were again buoyed by the offensive prowess of Diego Presingular who paced the visitors with six points. The second quarter was much closer, as the Griffins shot 47% from the floor and were able to contain some Alberta runs to head into the half down just 36-26. Simon led all scorers with 14 at the break, while Persingular paced the Griffins with 10.

Alberta was lethal on the boards coming out of the half, as in the third quarter they outrebounded the visitors 13-4 and as a result won the quarter 25-12, shooting 66.7% from the field on 15 attempts. While the Griffins would hang in on account of Job Janda, the Bears entered the final frame with a 61-38 advantage. In the fourth, with the game largely in check, some younger Bears made an impression, including rookie Carson Fisher who finished with a team-high eight points in the quarter. MacEwan did impress down the stretch, outscoring the Bears 19-17 in the final frame as they ended their season on a positive note.

You can view the Bears and Pandas playoff runs on canadawest.tv, with the Bears playing next Friday in Calgary or Winnipeg and the Pandas hosting on Saturday.