The Mount Royal University Cougars Men’s basketball team finished 2025 with an eight-to-four record, winning all six of their matches at home to sit third in the Prairie division.
The team ended their final home game with two exhilarating back-to-back wins against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
The first game was an 82-80 win for the Cougars, and the second was decided by a single point, with Mount Royal coming up victorious, 69-68.
One key contributor to the team’s success was Mount Royal Cougars fourth-year guard Sam Barnie.
Reflecting on the season, Sam praises the team’s progress.
“It’s been a really good year. We’ve stuck with a lot of the same group. It’s just been a lot of hard work. It’s been a long time coming, and I think we’re finally kind of showing what we’re made of,” Barnie said.
As one of the more senior members of the group, Sam has stepped up to become one of the of the main voices motivating the team and leading the way to success.
“I really like it. I love the group of guys here, so just being a part of something pretty cool. I try to do my best and help everyone as much as I can,” Barnie said.
“I just think that our team’s really great and we’ve got a lot of momentum and we all want one thing is to win. So as much as I can contribute, that’s what I’m gonna do,” he added.
Going into 2026, Sam and the Cougars are looking forward to the playoffs and continuing their strong performances game by game.
“I mean, really excited to just play the rest out here heading into playoffs. We’re super excited, just trying to take things kind of game by game each night. Next year, we were returning almost every single one of our guys. Going to be another really exciting year,” Sam said.
“It’s going to be my last year, so, yeah, just pumped up, just trying to take things as slow as possible and, yeah, take it day by day,” he added.