The women’s team lost to the Martlets while the men defeated the Redmen
On Jan. 21, the Concordia Stingers basketball teams played the first games of a home-and-home series against McGill.
The women’s team lost the first game of the night by a score of 64-49 after being dominated by the second ranked Martlets.The men’s game was one for the ages though, as the Stingers stunned the fourth ranked Redmen in double overtime with a 95-83 victory.
On the women’s side, the Stingers scored the first points of the game on a basket by point guard Tamara Pinard-Devos. The Martlets had an 8-5 lead halfway through the quarter after they scored nine unanswered points. In the end, the Martlets had a 15-14 lead after the first quarter.
The Martlets scored first in the second quarter thanks to free throws by Jennifer Silver. The Stingers ended up taking a one point lead twice in the quarter, first at 22-21 on a free throw by Marilyse Roy-Viau and then at 24-23 by a basket by Aurelie d’Anjou Drouin. Those were the last leads the Stingers would have all game. The Martlets stormed back and led 35-26 at half-time.
The Martlets scored first in the third quarter with a basket by forward Marie-Love Michel. The Stingers kept on chipping away at the Martlets’ lead until they were down 43-40 with two minutes left in the quarter. Stingers forward Richelle Gregoire scored 11 points in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, the Martlets came away with seven straight points to give themselves a 10 point lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Stingers capitalized on some miscues from the Martlets. The Stingers eventually brought the Martlet lead down to seven points, but that was the closest they would come to tying the game.
“We did not play good defense as a team,” Viau said. “We were missing a bit of energy coming out from the second half.”
On the other side, the men’s team had a hot start to their game as they led 12-5 halfway through the first quarter. They got great three-point shooting by forward Ken Beaulieu and point guard Ricardo Monge. The Stingers ended up leading 19-14 after the first quarter.
The Redmen got the first points of the second quarter off of a basket by guard Michael Peterkin. The quarter was filled with back and forth action as the game was tied three times. The Redmen ended up being the team to pull through as they ended the quarter with a 40-35 lead.
The Stingers opened the third quarter scoring with four unanswered points to make it a one point game. The Stingers took advantage of sloppy fouling mistakes by the Redmen as they tied the game at 45 on a free throw by Ahmadu-Tijani Umar. The Stingers then took control of the game off of another free throw by Umar. The Stingers carried a 54-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
For the first four minutes of the quarter neither team could hit baskets. The Redmen got on the board first with a pair of free throws by Peterkin. Late in the quarter, the Stingers had a three point lead. However, with just three seconds left, Redmen guard Jenning Leung hit a game tying three-pointer to force overtime.
The first overtime saw the Stingers regain the lead off of free throws by Schneiders Suffrard. Leung replied with a three-pointer for the Redmen. The Stingers got two late baskets to force a second overtime. In the second overtime, the Stingers came out guns blazing as they had a 6-0 run to start the quarter on route to what would be 20 points in the quarter.
Stingers point guard Ricardo Monge had a career game scoring 28 points in the win.
“The past few games, I’ve struggled to score,” Monge said in an interview with Yacine Bouhali of The Link. “Tonight I came in and made a couple shots at the beginning which boosted my confidence.”
The men’s team went on to defeat McGill in the second leg of their home-and-home series on Jan. 23 by a score of 68-57. The women’s team lost in overtime on the very same day by a score of 72-70.
