The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team was hoping to erase its horrible preseason in which they had a record of 1-10, but fell 69-62 to the UQAM Citadins after blowing a fourth quarter lead.
The Stingers lost the opening tipoff but were the first team to get points. Stingers forward Michael Fosu had an easy layup for the first points of the game. The Stingers played great defence in the first quarter and were getting sinking baskets, especially forward Mukiya Post, who had back-to-back three-pointers.
The best Citadins player on the court in the first quarter was forward Alexandre Bernard, who scored 15 points in the first quarter. However, Stingers guard Adam Chmielewski had a three pointer and centre Zach Brisebois had a two pointer to tie the game up at 21 by the end of the first quarter.
UQAM scored the first points of the second quarter but Stingers forward Taylor Garner responded for Concordia to keep it a tie game. Then, Post and guard Evan Gill each scored three-pointers.
The Stingers only allowed the Citadins to get 11 points in this quarter and lead 41-32 going into halftime.
The Stingers started the second half with the ball and capitalized with a two-pointer by Fosu and then guard Jean-Andre Moussignac had two three-pointers to help extend the Stingers lead.
The Citadins started to chip away at the Stingers lead as they scored 14 points to cut the Stingers lead to five. The score at the end of the third quarter was 51-46 for the Stingers.
The Citadins brought in centre Vincent Champagne in the fourth quarter. He scored two foul shots and then a two-pointer. Bernard then got his first points since the first quarter for UQAM, which had the game tied once again.
Fosu caused a turnover with 20 seconds left in the game, which lead to a two-point basket by Citadins forward Phillip Tamba, making the score 65-59 Citadins.
Post made it interesting with a three-pointer to make it 65-62 with 14 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late for the Stingers.
The top player for the Stingers was Mukiya Post, who had 18 points. UQAM’s best player was Alexandre Bernard, who had 25 points in the win. The Stingers have now lost nine games in a row.
Fosu after the game said that the Stingers were pressing too much in the game and that the team did not execute what the coach wanted, which were good shots and to slow down the pace.
