The Concordia Stingers’ men’s basketball Coach John Dore had a good feeling heading into their match-up against the McGill Redmen last Friday.
With a play-off berth on the line, the Bee Boys had everything to lose, but ended up doing everything right. “In the warm-ups we noticed (from the crowd reaction) this was going to be a good game,” Dore mentioned. “This was our chance to clinch a play-off spot, and we wanted to do it tonight.”
And did they ever: right in their own gym, the Redmen gave up the game and a play-off spot to the Stingers by a score of 84-74.
Led by starting guard Phillip Langlois, the Stingers jumped out into a fast 11-5 lead.
Stinger Dilip Mayar bullied his way inside for the first four points of the game, Patrick Perrotte scored four of his 16 beauties in the early going, and Rastko Popovic put in three. “I was able to play more freely on offense because I felt that our defence was as solid as it ever was,” he said. “Even when we are on the attack we are all thinking defence and that makes it easier to go full throttle.”
“We played as smart as we could,” said Dore. “We let them shoot and we focused on boxing out and getting into position to rebound.”
A stingy Concordia group controlled the defensive boards, out-rebounding McGill 26-15. Daniel Lacasse led all cagers in that department and was like a ball magnet under his boards, seizing seven rebounds.
What also helped was Concordia’s ability to capitalize on a poor shooting first half by McGill. When it was all said and done, it was the 34-24 Concordia lead at half time that did all the speaking.
Much to the Redmen credit, the final three minutes left Stinger fans raising stiff eyebrows and collectively gasping for air.
The Stingers were in a gift-giving mood all night when it came to letting McGill shoot. The best scenario then is to take the ball up court and answer back. That is until McGill’s Hidish Bhardwaj hit a three-pointer that sent the Redmen faithful into prayer as the scoreboard lights changed the score to 78-70.
On the ensuing inbounds play the Stingers could not answer as the Redmen pressed and stole the ball, but missed the three. “It could have gone either way,” said Dore. “We stayed on our game plan and did not panic.”
It was Popovic who took matters into his own hands. He snapped the rebound and had it in his mind to go coast to coast. He was fouled and sent to the line where he hit the two.
The Redmen’s attempts to sink in more baskets failed, and the final score of 84-74 was enough to snag the victory and claim a play-off berth for the Bee Boys.
“The goal is to now clinch home court advantage,” Dore said. There are several win-lose scenarios that could seal home court advantage for our Stingers but John Dore’s vision is simpler. “There is only one way to home court advantage and that is to win the final three games of the season.”
The Stingers will host the Bishop Gaiters this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Loyola gym. On Saturday the McGill Redmen will be visiting the hive, and the Bee Boys will head to Laval on Feb. 21 for the final game of the season.
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