After winning 73-63 in the first match of the home-and-home series on Thursday night against the Laval Rouge et Or, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team pulled off a 62-57 comeback win at the Concordia gym on Saturday afternoon.
Both the Rouge et Or and the Stingers played great defence as each team did not commit many turnovers.
Laval got the first basket of the game with a two-pointer by guard Hugues Ryan. The Stingers would respond a minute later with a three-pointer by guard Jean-Andre Moussignac to give Concordia a 3-2 lead. However, that was the only time the Stingers would lead until the 2:11 mark of the fourth quarter. Hadzimuratovic led the Rouge et Or with six points in the first quarter to help Laval to a 18-14 lead after one.
The Stingers got the first basket of the second quarter by forward Mike Fosu. A couple of seconds later Zach Brisebois would tie the game with his first of five successful free throws in the second quarter. However, forward Antoine Guilard would get Laval’s first basket of the quarter and give them back the lead. Guard Karl Belanger led the Rouge et Or with seven points in the second quarter to give Laval a 33-24 lead heading into halftime. Down 47-34 with 34 seconds left in the third quarter, a Mukiya Post field goal would get the Stingers within 10 points with one quarter left to play.
Fosu led the Stingers with nine points in the fourth quarter, helping Concordia with the come-from-behind victory. Down by five at the 4:55 mark, the Stingers cued the comeback. Less than three minutes later, Concordia got only their second lead of the game, thanks to a three-pointer by point guard Adam Chmielewski, putting the Stingers up 58-55. Chmielewski and Post’s two free throw baskets each clinched the win for the Stingers in the dying seconds of the game. Laval only got one basket the last five minutes of the game as the Stingers played great defence, blocking the Laval shooting lines.
Four out of the five Concordia starters had double digit points. The leading scorer was Fosu, who had 15 points in the win. Chmielewski had 12 points with eight rebounds.
Moussignac said that every game has a “moment of truth” and he describes the comeback as that moment.
Chmielewski said that their big guys were key in the win on Saturday, but was humble about his performance, saying,“it wasn’t great except for the fourth quarter.”
But Stingers head coach John Dore had kinder words for Chmielewski, saying he is one of the best point guards in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports league.
“When the game is on the line, Adam is there,” Dore said.
“[It was a] gutsy win for us as we were down the whole game and fought back to win,” Dore said about the team’s overall performance. “We executed very well [today].”
The Stingers’ next game is against their town rivals, the McGill Redmen, on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. on home court.
