Reds take it on Stinger soil

Photo by Paul Molpeceres

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) Varsity Reds handed the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team their seventh consecutive loss Saturday Oct. 26, as the Stingers fell 80-70 on home court.

Photo by Paul Molpeceres

Concordia got off to a good start. Stingers centre Zach Brisebois opened the scoreboard with a two pointer, and despite appearing slow defensively, Concordia was successful at picking up fouls in offensive territory with forward Taylor Garner capitalizing on those penalties, scoring four points on four free throws.

The Stingers brought the first period to a close with a lead of 20-13.

Garner later proved to be once again clutch early in the second quarter, and after a timeout called at 6:52 of the period, Concordia resumed play appearing to be the fresher and more active of the two teams.

Late in the quarter, however, there appeared to be a change in momentum, as the Reds buried a three-pointer and netted two more points off of a successful free throw following a Concordia foul. Capitalizing on Concordia’s lack of focus, UNB took the lead and the half came to a close with a score of 39 to 35.

UNB guard Javon Masters took the reins for his team in the second half, while Stingers guard Jean-André Moussignac came up big for his side, sinking a three-pointer to bring Concordia within two points.

Despite missing his first free throw of the night, Garner redeemed himself and scored off of a huge drive by Stingers forward Mukiya Post, making it a tie game at 52 points apiece.

Concordia briefly regained the lead after experiencing what seemed like a sudden spurt of energy, but the Varsity Reds scored again shortly after, ending the third period with the lead.

Brisebois remained active in the fourth until a minor hand injury momentarily forced him out of the game.

After a UNB player put the ball in the Stingers’ hands, Garner went crashing into the sideline chairs in an attempt to keep the ball inbounds, while Stingers forward Zander Jean made sure the tumble wasn’t in vain and scored to make it a one point game.

The Stingers later denied the Reds a scoring opportunity before a timeout was called with just over two minutes left in the game. The scoreboard showed a lead of 70-69 for the visitors.

Concordia had given it all they had at that point. However, the Varsity Reds prevailed with a final score of 80-70, as they seemed to be the better conditioned team in the end. Reds’ guard Daniel Quirion proved to be the game’s leading scorer with 30 points, while Garner netted a total of 15 for Concordia.

“I think we played pretty well to start the game. We lost our composure offensively a little bit, took some bad shots, and allowed them back in the game,” said Stingers head coach John Dore when asked about the game. “Defensively, we‘ve got a bit of work to do.”

This was the third and final non-conference game of the season. The Stingers will now head south of the border to play the University of Vermont Catamounts next Sunday in Burlington, in their final exhibition game of the season.

Related Posts