The Concordia men’s basketball squad got back to their winning ways this past the weekend with a pair of lopsided wins over the Laval Rouge et Or, winning 77-58 Friday at Laval, and 75-66 Saturday at home. With the victories, Concordia now has four wins in their last five games.
After an even first quarter Friday, the Stingers exploded in the second, outscoring their opponents 22-6. The Stingers went into the half up 44-24 and were able to ride the rest of the way on their second quarter performance.
Concordia coach John Dore described the game as “an all around team effort.” All but two players played at least 10 minutes, and the players who did so averaged almost eight points each. All of this happened on a night when starter Levi Vann was sidelined due to an ankle injury and star point guard Damian Buckley was playing with a high fever.
Evens Laroche led the Stingers in scoring with 17 points, followed by Decee Krah with 13 and Hamza Ruhezamihigo with 11.
Jean-Francois Beaulieu-Maheux, Xavier Baribeau and Francois-Olier Baribeau scored 43 of Laval’s 58 points with 19, 15 and nine points respectively.
Having a double-digit lead for most of the game gave coach Dore a chance to stretch out his bench. “Everyone on this team can play,” said Dore, “It’s nice to get an opportunity to give people minutes to see what they can do. The guys know if they play well they’re going to see more time.”
The Stingers completed the sweep of the Rouge et Or with a 75-66 win on Saturday afternoon.
The Stingers came out flying with a 46-23 halftime lead over Laval, but Laval stormed back in the second half eventually tying the game at 66 in the fourth quarter. However, the tide turned with the score 68-66 Concordia. Damian Buckley threw a lob from half court to a wide-open Laroche, who slammed the ball down in an alley-oop that would make an NBA highlight reel.
The Stingers fans and bench went absolutely crazy and Laval, visibly demoralized and stunned, called a timeout. They would not score another basket and the Stingers would score five more unanswered points to win the game.
Damian Buckley led the Stingers with 19 points and scored his 1,000th career point on a three-pointer with about seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. Buckley, who needed 12 to reach the milestone, had 11 in the first half. Buckley also had seven rebounds for the Stingers. Jamal Gallier had 11 points and Dwayne Buckley, Damian’s older brother, had 10 for Concordia.
The sweep means a lot for Concordia’s hopes of hosting a home playoff game. They now sit tied with UQAM for top spot in the Quebec conference, but have two games in hand against the Citadins who only have two games remaining and are four points clear of third place Laval. Concordia would secure at least a second place finish and a home playoff game just by winning two of their remaining four games against Bishop’s and McGill.
Lady Bees pull off upset split
With their season on the line, Concordia’s women’s basketball team faced off against top seeded Laval over the weekend. Already on a three game losing streak, the Stingers needed to pull off at least one victory to keep any hopes they had of making the post season alive. The Lady Bees won in overtime 76-70 at Laval on Friday, but lost 73-72 at home Saturday.
Laval came out of the gate strong and was up 14-3 with three minutes to go in the first quarter before allowing Concordia to cut the lead to five points at the end. The Stingers went into the half trailing by 10.
In the third everything fell apart for the Stingers. The Rouge et Or opened the quarter with a 10-2 run over the first 7:54, and outscored the Stingers 15-4 in the period.
Down 19 with nine minutes to play, something clicked for the Stingers. What started with a couple of steals, some timely rebounding and a bit of extra hustle turned into a barrage of scoring. With just over two minutes to play the ladies had cut the lead to three. Veteran guard Melissa Anne Campbell got the ball outside the arc and threw for a perfect three-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Campbell came out big in the early going of the extra period, and her teammates rallied around her to cruise to the hard earned 76-70 upset victory.
Campbell led all scorers with 24 points, Krystle Douglas and Anne-Marie Prophete added 18 and 15 respectively. Top scorers for the Rouge et Or were Chanelle St-Amour with 17 and Karine Bibeau with 15.
The next day, the Stingers hosted the Rouge et Or, and almost completed their second straight improbable comeback. Down 63-50 going into the fourth quarter, the Stingers fought all the way back to tie the game at 72. However, after a blocking foul was called on Anne-Marie Prophete with five seconds remaining, Marjorie Ferland hit one of two free throws to give Laval the one-point 73-72 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The next day, the Stingers hosted the Rouge et Or, and almost completed their second straight improbably comeback. Down 63-50 going into the fourth quarter, the Stingers fought all the way back to tie the game at 72. However, after a blocking foul was called on Anne-Marie Prophete with five seconds remaining, Marjorie Ferland hit one of two free throws to give Laval a one-point 73-72 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“We did [comeback] again [Sunday],” said Stingers head coach Keith Pruden. “We had a chance to win despite being fucked over.”
Despite the close loss, Pruden kept a positive outlook for the team’s final four games against Bishop’s and McGill – the team they’re trailing for the final playoff spot.
The Stingers were led offensively by Kristin Portwine and Kendra Carrie who had 14 and 12 points respectively. However, it was the defence the team showed that paved the way for the comeback. Laval only shot 25 per cent from the field in the second half and had 10 points in the final quarter.
“We are showing the team we can be,” said Portwine. “We’re bringing it all together. We had nothing to lose and we kept at it and kept going at it.”
The Stingers now sit two games behind the McGill Martlets for the final playoff spot in the Quebec conference. They play McGill in the final two games of the season in two weeks after two games against the Bishop’s Gaiters.
“From last week to this week there was tremendous improvement. If that continues, we will make the playoffs,” Pruden said.
-With files from Jared Book
