Basketball tournament – The Concordian

How strong is the home court advantage? Women go 3-0 and men go 2-1 against nation-wide visitors.

The men’s and women’s Stingers basketball teams hosted the Concordia Classic Tournament over the first week of October at the Loyola campus. Both teams invite three other schools from around Canada to participate. Each team faces a new opponent per day over the course of three days.

Women’s tournament results

Our women’s team hosted Thursday through Saturday and played University of Toronto (U of T), University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and Ontario Tech in order. The Stingers were unbeaten, accumulating a total point difference of 102 against the three teams and finishing at the top of the table.

On Oct. 5, Concordia played the U of T Varsity Blues. It was a very close matchup. The teams were more or less even, though the Stingers had the edge in converting free throws. Out of both teams shooting 19 shots from the line, the home team made 14, compared to the away team’s 10. Forwards Angela Batrla and Gretta-Olivia Ineza were the main contributors to this precision, succeeding in 83.3 per cent and 100 per cent of their shooting respectively. Bartla later won the tournament’s MVP award. Concordia won 53-49.

Against the UNBC Timberwolves the next day, the women’s team showed utter dominance, never letting the opposition take the lead. Up by one in the first quarter, expanding to 19 in the next, to 30 in the third and finally reaching 35 by the end of the game. Concordia won 75-40.

On Oct. 7, the Stingers played the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. This was a blowout, as the Stingers dominated in almost every aspect. The Stingers put up 14 more shots, converting 22 per cent more, collected 16 more rebounds and were able to score 29 points off of turnovers. Again, Batrla and Ineza were the stars of the show, though fifth-year point guard Areej Burgonio assisted nine times. Shooting guard Florence Poirier also scored 16 points and went 5-5 on free throws. Concordia won by a whopping 53 points, at 99-46.

Men’s tournament results

As for the Stingers’ men’s basketball team, they also hosted UNBC, along with the University of Regina (U of R) and the University of New Brunswick (UNB) from Friday to Sunday. The Stingers managed to win their first two games, but were unable to pull through in the last showing. The men’s Stingers placed second out of four.

On Oct. 6, the Stingers showed solid defense, only allowing 67 points throughout the game. Although the team had a significantly harder time scoring from three (34.8 per cent success) than the opposition (42.9 per cent success), Concordia was able to put up a significantly higher number of shots (30-75 vs. 27-65), and converted more at the freethrow line going 6-9. The Stingers showed off their ability to score off of the bench, as point guard Alec Phaneuf scored 10 points in the nine minutes he was on the court, as Emmanuel Duprate averaged a point per minute with 13. Starting shooting guard Jaheem Joseph managed a double-double with 10 rebounds and 21 points. Concordia won 74-67.

The Stingers displayed their best performance of the weekend against the U of R Cougars on Oct. 7. This time around, even more love was shared around the team, as three bench players were able to ball for at least 15 minutes. First-year center Bradley Louidon impressively put up 12 rebounds in 25 minutes of play time. Starting guard Jordan Telfort made all of his free throws and scored 22 points in just over half the gametime. The Stingers’ decisive quality was their domination in three-point conversion, making 54.5 per cent, compared to U of R’s 32 per cent. Concordia won 81-73

Jordan Telfort vs. the U of R Cougars
Credit: Liam Mahoney

On the final day of the tournament, the Stingers faced the UNB Reds. Although Stingers veteran point guard Sami Jahan put up a lifetime performance of 32 points, six rebounds and made eight out of nine free throw attempts, there was no stopping the Reds. Every starter scored over 10 points, two of whom scored at least 20, including tournament MVP Marcus Barnes. The Reds were almost 14 per cent more clinical behind the three-point line and 4.5 per cent higher field goal percentage. They scored 10 extra points off of turnovers. No question. Concordia lost 90-72.

Stingers basketball is strong this year, and we should keep an eye out on their upcoming seasons. The women’s Stingers play ULaval on Nov. 4 for their home opener and will play in the AWE Classic York University in Ontario from Oct. 20 to 22. The men’s Stingers will also play their home opener against ULaval on Nov. 4.

The parking lot of John Rennie High School was full on Jan 26. Around 200 people gathered in its modest gym on Sunday afternoon for the Sîan Bradwell all-star charity basketball game, which the West-Island community looks forward to every year.

Former Montreal Canadiens forward Georges Laraque and two-time basketball Olympian Lizanne Murphy were among a dozen other celebrities who came to play against the John Abbott College basketball team in support of the Sîan Bradwell Fund.

Mike Gaudin, who started the West Island Lakers All-Star Weekend in 2001, explained that the idea came after he met Deborrah Sharon Bradwell, who lost her 17-month-old daughter Sîan to cancer, in March of 1986. He was the president of the West Island Lakers Basketball Association at the time and wanted to find a way to contribute to the cause.

In the first year of the event, about $2,000 was raised. One of the Lakers’ coaches brought then-Alouettes player Barron Miles to the game, and since then, they have a full team of stars every year. “We have a large number of celebrities coming in annually, and their support has always been outstanding,” Gaudin said.

He explained that their presence attracts a large number of spectators, which increases participation in the fundraising activities they organize. “There was one year in the beginning that it was slow, there were not enough people,” said Gaudin. “So we came up with the idea of a pre-game auction, of ’Who Wants To Play With The Stars’ and we’ve been raising 500 to 600 dollars just to have a bidder to come and play with the celebrities.”

These activities have allowed the foundation to raise tens of thousands of dollars each year for the purchase of medical equipment and other items necessary to better diagnose and treat children with cancer.

“As [role models], we try to bring people together all the time in big events like this to show how big of an impact that we can have, and it works,” said Laraque. And by seeing their idols participate in such charities, he says he hopes that they will do the same. “It’s like a chain that’ll keep going.”

Laraque said that he feels like the duty of former and current professional athletes is to contribute to society. “The least we can do is to give back to the community.”

Alessia Di Giorgio, the special events advisor at the Children’s Hospital Foundation, explained that the events held by the foundation contribute a lot of the funding for the oncology department for the past 30 years. “The Bradwell family, both by blood and by volunteers and community, has raised an exorbitant amount for the children,” said Di Giorgio. “The West Island waits for the WILBA tournament in January, and the softball tournament in August. It’s really a staple of the community and something that we count on in terms of community events for the children.”

Bradwell started the foundation with her husband Ken after the death of their daughter. She has been organizing charity events to raise money for the fund for 32 years now.

“It’s absolutely amazing for me that everything is still going so long after Sîan died,” she said. “To be able to come back and see all my friends again and have people still so keen to help the Montreal Children’s Hospital, it’s an absolutely amazing feeling. I absolutely love coming back here.”

Today, over $1,600,000 has been donated in Sîan’s name.

Feature image by Ora Bar