The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team continued its great play with a weekend sweep over Laval on Friday and McGill on Saturday.
The fifth-ranked Stingers came back from seven points down, early in the second half, to go up by fourteen, outscoring the McGill Redmen 23-2 during that stretch, and 32-14 the rest of the game to win 79-70.
The Stingers were behind in the game for the first 30 minutes until Phil Langlois hit a big three-pointer from the right side to tie the game up at 54. Patrick Perrotte scored in the paint mid-way through the second half to put the Stingers ahead, and they didn’t look back.
The Stingers weren’t executing on the floor early – perhaps suffering a let-down after the 79-73 victory over third-ranked Laval, which moved them into sole possession of first place in the QSSF.
Coach John Dore was quick to acknowledge the let-down in his team’s play, but was just as quick to say that it wasn’t excusable.
“When you’re in first place, everyone else is going to come out to play us, and we have to be ready to respond, and today we weren’t ready to respond for whatever reason.”
The proof is in the numbers. The Stingers were a dismal 38.9 per cent from the field in the first half, but improved that number to 56.3 per cent in the second. They were 0-4 from the free-throw line in the first half, and 12-13 in the second half. The Stingers played high-octane basketball on offence and on defence- a defence that forced McGill into 17 turnovers during the game.
The Stingers also showed more hustle than the Redmen on the boards. The Stingers out-rebounded the Redmen 32-25.
One player who did play well from start to finish was Stingers forward Pat Perrotte, who scored six of the team’s first eight points and finished with a game-high 25. Perrotte also had eight rebounds, more than any other player from either team that night.
Perrotte’s big game against the Redmen came one day after he netted 20 in the win against Laval. Perrotte is the team’s leading scorer, and second in the conference with 18.1 points per game.
Ben Sormonte had 21 in the win against Laval, while all-star point guard Langlois had 16 points and nine assists as the Stingers fought off their heated rival Laval at home. They face Laval one more time this season, at Loyola Gym, hoping to clinch the season series and home court advantage in the playoffs.
McGill’s Denburk Reid had 21 points, including five in the final eight seconds, against the Stingers, and is now only four points from becoming the all-time leading scorer in McGill history.
