Stingers sweep Citadins in home-and-home

Ricardo Monge goes up against a UQÀM defender during their win. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

The Concordia men’s basketball team defeated UQÀM at home in a close match on Jan. 16

The Stingers entered their home game on Saturday, Jan. 16 against the UQÀM Citadins with a chance to earn a sweep in their home-and-home series.

Ricardo Monge goes up against a UQÀM defender during their win. Photo by Brianna Thicke.
Ricardo Monge goes up against a UQÀM defender during their win. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

On Jan. 14, the Stingers defeated the Citadins 74-61 and were eager to defeat them for a second time. Saturday afternoon’s game proved to be exciting as the back and forth pace between the two teams created an electric atmosphere. In the end, the Stingers prevailed 71-66 to win the last leg of the home-and-home.

Earlier in the game, the level of intensity was quickly elevated, with both teams matching each other after each basket. The Stingers took control of the match in the middle of the first quarter because of back-to-back three-point shots by forward Ken Beaulieu and guard Jaleel Webb. The score was 21-10 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Citadins got a hot start from forward Henrilo Londole as he scored the quarter’s first six points. The Stingers started the quarter cold which allowed the Citadins to cut the lead to five points at 21-16.  Concordia then rebounded as Beaulieu increased the Stingers lead to 16 points. The Citadins got a late three-pointer by guard Charles Miller in the quarter which cut the Stingers lead to 11 points.

Ken Beaulieu goes up for a dunk in the Stingers big win. Photo by Brianna Thicke.
Ken Beaulieu goes up for a dunk in the Stingers big win. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

The start of the third quarter was similar to the second quarter as the Citadins scored five unanswered points to cut the Stingers lead to six points. Late in the quarter, after the Citadins ended up cutting the Stingers lead to six points, Stingers forward Schneiders Suffrard took control of the game and scored six straight points to end the quarter. The Stingers led 50-45 after the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with a Citadins basket by guard Kewyn Blain. The Stingers responded with a basket scored by Suffrard. In the middle of the quarter, the Citadins ended up taking their second lead of the game off of a three-pointer by guard Greishe Clerjuste. Both teams continued to trade shots in the last few minutes of the game. Stingers forward Michael Fosu’s basket with 45 seconds left was the turning point as the Stingers scored six straight points after that to ensure the victory.

“I was very happy about how the guys responded after [UQÀM] took the lead, they stuck to the game plan and made big shots down the stretch,” Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic said.  

Fosu, who was a large part of the team’s victory, and said that the game was a tale of two halves.

”In the first half, I felt like we were imposing our will on them and then in the second half, we were acting casual and thinking this game was going to be easy,” Fosu said. “Luckily we were able to bounce back and hold them down.”

Up next, the Stingers will play the 6-1 McGill Redmen who are currently ranked second in the country in a home-and-home series starting on Jan. 21.

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