The Stingers jumped out early and never looked back as they crushed the Citadins 72-57
When the men’s basketball team played host to the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins on Thursday night, it was a different story. The Stingers dominated the Citadins in Thursday’s affair and won by 15 points, 72-57. Five different Stingers had double-digit points including guards Aamir Gyles and Mukiya Post, who both had 13 points in the win. The big difference in the game was the way Concordia capitalized off of the Citadins 17 giveaways, scoring 27 points off turnovers alone.
Concordia got off to a fast start and scored the opening points in the game with baskets by forward Mike Fosu and Aamir Gyles. However, the Citadins went on their own 4-0 run to tie the game on baskets by forward Alexandre Bernard and guard Davidson Joseph.
The teams exchanged points throughout the first quarter until Concordia was able to take control late in the opening act. Concordia ended the frame winning 14-7.
The second quarter began as a stalemate. At one point it seemed as if neither team would get any points in the second. The first points of the quarter came only with 5:34 left when Gyles hit a two-pointer. Then a few seconds later, Stingers forward Ken Beaulieu went airborne for a slam dunk to wake up the crowd.
The Citadins would get their first points of the second quarter with 4:17 left on a basket by guard Jean-Yves Kazadi. As they did in the first quarter, Concordia pressed the tempo of the game late in the quarter to take control. The Stingers responded with a 4-0 run which included a one-handed slam dunk by Ken Beaulieu. Concordia was up 12 points at halftime, 24-12.
The Stingers kept the pressure on the Citadins to start the second half and began the third quarter on a basket by Beaulieu which sparked an 8-0 run to increase their lead. The Citadins’ Joseph provided a little push-back for his team by scoring six points in a minute and 19 seconds for his team.
The Stingers continued to score baskets but a key moment in the game occurred with 3:45 seconds left in the quarter as the Stingers had back-to-back slam dunks by center Jean-Louis Wanya and Beaulieu. Any hope and momentum that the Citadins thought they had vanished once and for all. Concordia took a commanding 20-point lead to end the third quarter, 53-33.
Concordia would start the final frame with a bang when Post went beyond the arc for a three-pointer. The Citadins did close the gap to 11 points with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter on free throws by Alexandre Bernard, but the game had already been decided at that point.
Despite the convincing win, Stingers head coach John Dore believed that there are still aspects of the game that his team needs to improve on.
“We played solid defence in the first half but we committed too many fouls and turnovers,” Dore said.
