After battling back last week at McGill, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team fought through another tough week before hammering the Bishop’s Gaiters 74-52. Impressive considering most of the team had been struck with the flu this week.
It was clear from the get-go that sickness affected their game, as they were down 12-5 early on. Slowly, the Stingers crept their way back into the game with four consecutive three-pointers with 6:49 remaining in the first half. It was a close game by half time with the Stingers leading 39-31, even though the Gators shot 50 per cent from the field and the Stingers shot only 40 per cent. The home team outshot their opponent 37-26 in the first half and 67-49 for the game.
Point Guard Philippe Langlois had an incredible game, collecting his second double-doubl e of the season, with 10 rebounds and 13 assists. Patrick Perrotte had a game-high of 23 points shooting 11 for 17 from the field and five rebounds.
“We’re all mature players with a lot of experience, and we know how to stay focused during the whole game,” Perrotte said. “We pump up each other.”
Concordia’s coaches were not as impressed as they would like to be. “We came off slow and our first half defense was not as good we [would] have liked it to be. We had to make some adjustments during half time,” said Stinger Assistant coach Ernie Rosa. ahose words were backed up with the Stingers recording a total of 13 steals and forcing a season-high 20 turnovers, limiting their opponent to 21 second-half points. Bishop’s was held scoreless for long stretches of time. Concordia also out-rebounded the Gaiters 32-25.
The highlight of the game came midway through the second half when the Stingers were on a four on one fastbreak. High-flying guard, Dwayne Buckley, received an accurate pass from Rastko Popovic to finish off the break with a monsterous alley-oop dunk over the lone defender, which pumped up the crowd. Even Bishop’s supporters were in awe and applauded the play. When asked about the incredible play, Rosa simply said, “We see it all the time during practice.”
With 2:55 left in the game, the Stingers enjoyed their biggest lead of the game at 71-44. However, the Gaiters did not give up and showed signs of perseverance when they consecutively hit two three-pointers. The Gaiters’ head coach called several time-outs to ensure his players continued to follow the game plan, and to give their best effort. At the same time, on the other side of the court, Stingers head coach John Dore was busy keeping his players focused for the remainder of the game. It was a well-fought game, with Concordia coming out with yet another victory to improve their record to 11-1. The Stingers will host Bishop’s University again Feb. 18.
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