After their last meeting at Loyola Gym, there may have been more than a few fans who were expecting to see this past Friday’s meeting between the Laval Rouge et Or and Concordia Stingers to turn into a slugfest. But that didn’t happen.
What those in Quebec City saw was an impressive display of determination and skill at both ends of the court without incident. Unfortunately, they also saw the home squad edge out Concordia in the final moments for a 65-60 victory that guaranteed Laval a first-place provincial ranking.
To appreciate the civility of this encounter one must first consider the last match between both teams, which resulted in a violent scuffle at the end of the game.
In the aftermath of that incident Concordia guard Chris Blackwood received a four-game suspension for his part, while teammate and Captain Dan Lacasse received two games. But because both have since been appealed Lacasse was allowed to play in both games this past weekend. On the Laval side Samuel Audet-Sow received two games but also appealed, permitting him to play as well.
It looked like the Stingers would fall into the same trap as their previous meeting with Laval by getting behind early, trailing 18-11.
“We’ve had problems not starting well and having to work hard to get back in the game,” Lacasse said.
But Concordia would slow down the momentum with a quick 6-0 run, highlighted by a Ratsko Popovic steal that he took in for an easy lay-in, bringing it back to a one-point game.
Both squads then stepped it up a notch by using the long ball. With the score at 25-22 for the Rouge et Or Dominique Soucy, who was a force all night for the home team, drained a long three-pointer. This riled up the crowd and extended Laval’s lead. The threes continued to fall as rookie Ben Sormonte and Popovic each drained baskets for Concordia, while Remi Cambron responded for Laval.
Sormonte wasn’t the only young gun producing for Concordia as rookie forward Donal Corkum made one of the best transitional plays of the night. Corkum started by blocking Marc-Antoine Horth on the defensive end and hustled to the other end to take a pass for a lay-in.
Despite the highlight reel effort, the Stingers still trailed 41-34 at the half.
The Dominique Soucy show was back in full force to start the second half as a three-pointer gave Laval a 48-36 lead. However, Concordia somehow managed to claw their way back within striking distance, trailing 50-45.
Soucy struck again though as another three seemed to temporarily deflate the Stingers’ confidence. But Laval couldn’t close the deal. The Maroon and Gold, refusing to quit, turned to Sormonte to keep them alive. He responded by hitting another three to cut it to 55-52.
It was then consecutive baskets from Patrick Perrotte that put Concordia up by a point.
However, leading 58-56 with less then two minutes remaining and victory within their grasp, a familiar face once again showed up to torture the Stingers.
With his fourth three-pointer of the game, to help him finish with 14 points, Soucy put Laval back on top for good.
Despite a couple of last-ditch efforts, Concordia’s bag of tricks was left empty as they were forced to foul, handing the game to Laval.
“We proved that we can play well and beat them in their gym,” Lacasse said after the game. “If we get a good start and we can play our game at the end we’ll be able to beat them.”
After a game that was ultimately decided by just a couple of missed shots, Coach John Dore said for his team to succeed against Laval come the provincial championships the strategy is very simple. “What we have to do is build from this game and cut down on mental mistakes,” he said. “Hopefully by the last game we’ll be there.”
