Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Hours and hours spent in the gym all summer shooting shot after shot has Deonte Doslov-Doctor set to take a big step offensively in his senior season with the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team.
Already, there's evidence his work is paying off. Doslov-Doctor dropped 33 points on UBC-Okanagan during MacEwan's final exhibition game Oct. 19 during a Kamloops, B.C. non-conference tournament.
"I've worked on my shot a lot this year," said the Archbishop MacDonald product. "I shot the ball horribly last year. One of my biggest focuses over the summer was to shoot the ball well coming into the season."
Doslov-Doctor put up 10.7 points per game in 2017-18 before regressing a bit to 8.7 last season – a tough campaign for the entire team, which wound up well out of the playoffs with a 1-19 record. But after working on a more consistent release, he's hoping to push above 15 points a night in 2019-20.
"Over the years, I've worked on adjusting my shot and making it a little bit better," said Doslov-Doctor. "I used to shoot the ball different every time, so I think the consistency is the biggest thing. The volume of shots, the repetition, helps as well."
The fifth-year point guard will lead the Griffins into the 2019-20 Canada West season, which begins Friday at home vs. Mount Royal University (8 p.m.) and continues Saturday (2 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"I think part of it is that fifth-year urgency," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly of Doslov-Doctor's improved scoring touch. "We've talked with him that there's only three things guaranteed in life – death, taxes and you have 20 league games left. So make it the best."
Deonte Doslov-Doctor spent hours working on his shot over the summer and is hoping to see that hard work pay off in 2019-20 (Chris Piggott photo).
As the only fifth-year senior on the team this season, Doslov-Doctor has also added leadership to his repertoire. His five seasons also include a redshirt campaign in the middle, so he has actually been with the Griffins since the program's first season in Canada West (2014-15) and has plenty of wisdom to impart.
"He's just been a pleasure to work with to develop the team, to grow the team and empower the team," said Connolly. "When I first saw him, he was a quiet, shy guy. He's starting to come out of his shell and communicate more and talk more. He's always led by example in what he does. Now it's important that he needs to keep up with where guys are going and talk and communicate that way. I think he's doing a fabulous job."
That veteran voice will be an important one in a room that's a mix of younger returning players, college transfers and freshmen.
"It's been awesome," said Doslov-Doctor. "Everyone's been working really hard this year. All of our first years have been working hard. This is a big transition for them from high school to U SPORTS. Even some of the guys from ACAC, it's a big transition, but they've all been doing awesome. I can speak so highly of everyone on the team, for sure."
The Griffins head into the campaign with last season's leading scorer Jake Notice on the shelf with an injury that will keep him out until the second semester. Other key veterans include fourth-year Dustin Gatzki and third-year Abdullah Shittu, who broke the program record for most blocks in a season in 2018-19, while second-years Luke Harold, Abiel Tabufor, Alex Jap and Jesse Trussler are ready to take the next step.
A few newcomers are also poised to play some key minutes.
"The first-year kid we have is Greg Wint, who is 6-6 and he averaged a double double in the preseason," noted Connolly. "He's one of our better defenders. And then we have Grayson Youngs, who's a first-year kid from Ross Sheppard and he's going to get minutes. He comes in and plays hard minutes.
"Then, Mason Hunter. He's our first guard off the bench. He's an Academic All Canadian out of the ACAC. He shoots the ball well. Those three guys are having an impact right now on the team."
It would be a big leap for the program to go from where it was last season to the playoffs, but it's not out of the realm of possibility if the hard work the team is capable of shows up consistently. That journey starts this weekend.
"It's important for guys to show well at home," said Connolly. "I think that's the biggest stress I'm worried about with them is they should not let this one weekend dictate who they're going to be the rest of the year.
"We're trying to keep it positive, keep it going and have lots of energy. I think if we come out and play defence, play hard we'll be right there."
