Concordia says goodbye to veteran players and coach after their playoff loss
The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team headed to the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) Final Four and played their cross-town rivals and regular season champions, the McGill Redmen.
On Friday night, the Redmen dominated the game from the opening tip off until the last whistle, winning 74-60. This was the last game played for Stingers guard, Mukiya Post, forward Gabe Riche and long-time head coach John Dore, who now has retired after 26 years.
The Redmen started the game on hot streak, opening with a 7-0 run which included a three-pointer by shooting guard Vincent Dufort. The Stingers struggled early, only getting their first basket of the game with six minutes left in the quarter by forward Mike Fosu.
The Redmen closed out the quarter scoring 15 straight points which included two three-pointers by shooting guard Regis Ivaniukas. The Stingers only shot 16 per cent in the quarter and trailed 25-7 by the end of the first.
The Stingers went on a run that saw them score six straight points early in the second to help their cause. The run was led by Post who scored five out of six points, but the Redmen continued to increase their big lead and answered with six straight points of their own. By the time the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Stingers trailed 35-19.
The Stingers came out with more urgency in the second half, sensing that their season was on the brink of defeat. The Stingers offence began to heat up and controlled the tempo for the first part of the quarter. They had crawled back and were only down by 11 points midway through the third. As the Redmen’s offence went cold, it seemed, for a moment, that the Stingers had a chance.
The Redmen rebounded from their slow start to the quarter and finished strong. They scored eight straight points to end the third quarter and were up 16 heading into the final quarter, leading 54-38.
McGill scored the first four points of the last quarter on baskets by Dele Ogundokun and point guard Ave Bross. Much like the start of the third quarter, Concordia’s offence came to life for a quick moment in the fourth quarter and exploded for 12 unanswered points. Although Concordia was only down by 10 at that point, that was as close as the Stingers got in their final game. The Redmen clinched the victory late in the game after a slew of slam dunks by Michael Peterkin that seemed to zap Concordia’s momentum.
Concordia ended the year with a record of 8-9. Despite their early exit to a superior McGill squad, several Stingers received regular season honours. Forward Ken Beaulieu was named second team all-star, point guard Ricardo Monge was named to the all-rookie team and lastly, Post won the conference’s leadership award for his non-profit organization and charitable work off the court.
