Box Score
MONTREAL – Veteran Aleksandar Mitrovic of Belgrade scored a lucky 13 points, including a pair of clutch free-throws with 53 seconds remaining as McGill outlasted No.10-ranked Concordia 63-61 before a rabid “Pack the House” capacity crowd of about 750 at Love Competition Hall, Friday.
 
GAME STATS: http://www.sportetudiant-stats.com/universitaire/basketball-m/stats/1213/m27.htm

The result moved McGill back into a two-way tie with Bishop's atop the RSEQ standings. Both have identical 7-4 records, two points ahead of the Stingers, who fell to 6-5.

The Redmen jumped into an early lead and were comfortably up by 16 in the second quarter. McGill appeared to be total control at 55-40 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter but the Stingers went on a 16-1 run to take their first lead in the game, at 56-55, with just 5:10 remaining in contest.
 
From that point forward, it was “game on!” with the lead changing hands five times in a truly classic tilt.
 
Concordia's Kyle Desmarais, who finished with 11 points, hit a jumper to put the Stingers ahead 61-60 with 66 seconds remaining. But “Cool Hand” Mitrovic knocked down both his free-throws for the winning basket and Vincent Dufort of Smiths Falls, Ont., added a free-throw with six seconds left to make it 63-61.
 
Desmarais, who shot a buzzer-beater to defeat the Redmen 62-60 at Concordia on Jan. 24, had another crack in the dying seconds but missed his jumper.

Evens Laroche and Jerome Blake led the Stingers with 13 points apiece.

"It was exciting basketball," said David DeAveiro, in his third season as head coach at McGill. "Our fans were great tonight they gave us a big lift, especially when (Concordia) made their big run, our fans stuck with us and supported us right to the end. If we can have crowds like that and fan support like that, it'll definitely help us down the stretch."

McGill's Simon Bibeau of St. Bruno, Que., led all scorers with a game-high 14 points, going 4-for-6 from three-point range to go along with five rebounds, a pair of steals and three assists. The aforementioned Dufort registered a “double-double” with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Te'Jour Riley came off the bench to contribute seven points, four rebounds, three steals and as many assists.

"Te'Jour's effort was unbelieveable today, diving for loose balls, playing hurt," said DeAveiro. "He played an exceptional game."
 
McGill shot 39.6 per cent from the floor (21/53), 42.9 from the arc (6/14) and 68.2 from the line (15/22). The Stingers replied on 33.9, 27.3 and 57.7, respectively.

"Most or all our games are going to come down to possessions in the last three minutes, so it is really important that we keep our composure both on offence and defence," offered DeAveiro. "We're such a young team that I think Concordia's got a little more experience and they're seniors can set up and make big plays. Today, some our seniors did that, with Mitrovic getting two key throws down the stretch and Bibeau getting a bunch of threes and making the big shot."

Concordia will host fifth-place Laval (3-7) on Sunday (Feb.2) at 4 p.m., while the Redmen will travel to Quebec City on Feb. 7 to play Laval before hosting fourth-place UQAM (4-7) on Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.

REDMEN RAP: The McGill-Concordia rivalry is as intense as ever this season, with each team splitting the four games series and three of them coming down to the final shot. Concordia, however, holds the tie-breaker, outscoring McGill 274-257... "I think I understand the rivalry pretty well now," noted DeAveiro, who coached the Ottawa Gee-Gees for nine seasons before moving to McGill three years ago... Injured starting point-guard Adrian Hynes-Guery (shoulder) sat out for the third straight game and his status is considered day-to-day... Tristan Renaud-Tremblay, a 6-foot-7 junior who had surgery last summer, is not ready to play and will not be back this season.

 
 

Newspaper Box Score
(02/01/13 20h00 at Love Competition Hall)

REDMEN 63, STINGERS 61

STINGERS
Jerome Blake 5-10 2-3 13; Evens Laroche 4-11 5-7 13; Kyle Desmarais 3-9 4-10
11; Morgan Tajfel 3-10 0-0 9; Jean-A. Moussignac 2-4 0-0 5; Zach Brisebois
0-2 4-6 4; Kafil Eyitayo 2-5 0-0 4; Sheldon Moore 1-2 0-0 2; Taylor Garner
0-0 0-0 0; Evan Gill 0-0 0-0 0; Adam Chmielewski 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 20-59
15-26 61.

REDMEN
Simon Bibeau 5-9 0-0 14; Aleksandar Mitrovic 3-10 7-12 13; Vincent Dufort
4-11 3-4 11; Te'Jour Riley 3-6 0-0 7; Christian McCue 1-4 3-4 5; Winn Clark
2-5 0-0 4; Nathan Joyal 1-4 0-0 3; Rodrigo Imperador 1-2 0-0 2; Gordon Duffley 0-0 2-2 2; Ave Bross 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 21-53 15-22 63.

Stingers......................    8   17   17   19  -   61
Redmen........................   16   18   21    8  -   63

3-point goals--
Stingers 6-22 (Morgan Tajfel 3-7; Jerome Blake 1-4; Kyle
Desmarais 1-3; Jean-A. Moussignac 1-2; Adam Chmielewski 0-3; Zach Brisebois
0-1; Evens Laroche 0-2), 

Redmen 6-14 (Simon Bibeau 4-6; Nathan Joyal 1-2;
Te'Jour Riley 1-1; Christian McCue 0-2; Vincent Dufort 0-3). 

Fouled out--Stingers-None, Redmen-None. 

Rebounds--
Stingers 28 (Kafil Eyitayo 7),
Redmen 30 (Vincent Dufort 10). 

Assists--
Stingers 6 (Kyle Desmarais 2; Evens Laroche 2), 

Redmen 17 (Vincent Dufort 3; Simon Bibeau 3; Te'Jour Riley 3;
Nathan Joyal 3). 

Total fouls--Stingers 20, Redmen 23. 
Technical fouls--Stingers-None, Redmen-None.

SOURCE:
 
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
514-398-7012