The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team hosted the seventh-ranked McGill Redmen on Thursday in what turned out to be a wild game. The Stingers pulled off a comeback in the second half for a nail-biting, 69-67 win.
The Stingers entered the game on a five game winning streak which started at the end of November, while the Redmen lost their first game to Laval last week. The Stingers, led by centre Zach Brisebois, dominated the boards as they recovered 41 rebounds in Thursday’s game.
The Stingers also limited McGill’s forward Francois Bourque to only five rebounds in the game. Heading into Thursday, Bourque was sixth in the CIS, (Canadian Interuniversity Sports), in rebounding.
McGill started the game off with a slam dunk by forward Michael Peterkin. The Stingers responded with an impressive 9-0 run, which included a three pointer by guard Jean-Andre Moussignac.
There was four minutes left in the first quarter when some drama erupted as Stingers forward, Michael Fosu, was ejected from the game for fighting. Stingers forward, Mukiya Post, came off the bench to replace Fosu and had a superb game, scoring 21 points in the victory. By the end of the first quarter, the Stingers held a 20-17 lead.
Bourque scored the first basket of the second quarter for McGill, as the Redmen started to take over.
McGill scored 24 points in the quarter and took a commanding 41-28 lead heading into halftime. While the Stingers only had eight points in the quarter, the Redmen were knocking down threes all quarter, including a buzzer-beater by Redmen point guard, Regis Ivaniukas, to end the first half.
The third quarter was back-and-forth as both teams had chances to score. A difference-maker in the quarter, and the game, was Stingers guard Adam Chmielewski. Chmielewski had 13 points in the third quarter alone and helped the Stingers draw closer to tying the game. Chmielewski was the leading scorer in the game as he had 24 points in the win and eight assists.
The third quarter was a turning point in the game for Concordia as they outscored McGill 20-12. Heading into the final quarter, the Stingers had cut the Redmen lead down to five, trailing 53-48.
McGill point guard Vincent Dufort hit two free throws for the Redmen to kick off the final quarter. The Stingers then started their dramatic comeback in a fight to the finish. Post hit a three pointer, which put the Stingers within four. Then Chmielewski had a 4-0 run of his own to tie the game at 61-61.
McGill took the lead with 16 seconds left on the clock with a basket by Dufort, but the Stingers weren’t done yet. Concordia took the lead with seven seconds left, thanks to a driving layup by Chmielewski. Following a turnover and a foul, Moussignac hit both of his free throws to secure the win for Concordia.
There were seven lead changes in the last two minutes and the Stingers scored 41 points in the second half to pull off the exciting victory.
