Box Score
MONTREAL -- Te'Jour Riley scored 17 points and teammate Vincent Dufort collected a "double-double" as No.10-ranked McGill outlasted visiting Laval 71-70 in RSEQ men's university basketball at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.

GAME STATS: http://www.sportetudiant-stats.com/universitaire/basketball-m/stats/1213/m38.htm

The result clinched first-place for the Redmen (10-4) with one game remaining before playoffs, marking McGill's first regular season title in a dozen years, dating back to the 2000-01 campaign. It also meant that both the Redmen and Martlet hoops squads finished first in the same season, a rare achievement that appears to never have been accomplished previously at the University.

Riley shot 8-for-13 from the floor and went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds, five assists and a steal before fouling out.

Dufort had 14 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds off the glass. He shot 4-for-8 and made five of six freebies from the line.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, who had 13 points for the Redmen, hit a pair of free-throws with 27 seconds remaining to put the Redmen ahead 71-68 and proved to be the margin of victory. Teammate Christian McCue also reached double figures with 11 points.

In a game that featured 14 lead changes, McGill held a slim 15-13 advantage after the opening quarter and were up by as many as nine points in the second stanza but Laval rallied to outscore McGill 23-15 to take a 36-30 lead heading into halftime.

"We didn't make some shots that we normally make and defensively we gave up a lot of offensive boards and second-chance points and free-throws," said Dave DeAveiro, in his third season behind the Redmen bench.  "They were getting easy points and we were trying to get tough ones. That's the game sometimes, the momentum swings and you have to make adjustments. Sometimes you just have to survive. So we had to survive that second quarter and keep it as close as we could and get ready to play the third."

McGill reversed that trend after the intermission and outgunned the Rouge et Or 25-16 in the third quarter to take a 55-52 lead into the final frame.

"We struggled a little bit but a lot of that was what Laval was doing defensively," said DeAveiro. "Sometimes you gotta find ways to win close games and I thought that tonight, our kids battled. And even though we weren't at our best we still found a way to win the game."

Laval had three players in double figures, including Antoine Beaumier (19), Karl Desmarais (16) and Boris Hadzimuratovic (14).

McGill shot 41.3 per cent in field-goals (26/63), 27.3 from the arc (3/11) and 59.3 from the line (16/27), compared to Laval, which replied on 38.7, 18.8 and 67.9, respectively.

The teams were tied in rebounding with 33 apiece but McGill held a 7-4 edge in steals and an 18-16 advantage in turnovers, which led to the Redmen collecting 16 points off turnovers.

Mitrovic and team captain Winn Clark, both graduating seniors, were honoured before the opening tip-off with each receiving a framed McGill jersey.

"Alex has only been here two years but he's brought in an attitude, a mentality that we play hard all the time," said DeAveiro. "We do everything with a purpose. He has that refuse-to-lose attitude and that 's rubbed off on the others.

"Winn's been a mentor for a lot of our young guys that look up to him. He's kind of taken them under his wing and showed them the way. That will be his legacy, that he's been a role model for a lot of the guys."

The division-leading Redmen will close out the regular-season campaign on Saturday at fourth-place UQAM (5-10) in a contest that will be a playoff preview. The same teams will meet again in the conference semifinal at McGill on Feb. 27.

REDMEN RAP: Former Redmen standout Paul Brousseau, who was a three-time all-star from 1986 to 1991, drove in from Ottawa on business and took in his first Redmen home game in about 15 years. Brousseau, who went up against DeAveiro when the coach played for the Ottawa Gee-Gees, was named as the league's player of the year in 1989-90

Newspaper Box Score
(02/21/13 20h00 at Love Competition Hall
MCGILL 71, LAVAL 70

LAVAL
Antoine Beaumier 9-15 1-2 19; Karl Demers-Belanger 3-11 9-9 16; Boris
Hadzimuratovic 6-10 2-6 14; Rene-Pier Mathieu 3-7 1-2 7; Hugues Ryan 2-6 1-4
7; Khaled Amrani 1-2 3-3 5; Thibaud Dezutter 0-10 2-2 2; Simon Mercier 0-0
0-0 0; Olivier Lefebvre 0-0 0-0 0; Laurier Beaulac-Duf. 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
24-62 19-28 70.

MCGILL
Te'Jour Riley 7-12 1-2 15; Vincent Dufort 4-8 5-6 14; Aleksandar Mitrovic
4-10 5-10 13; Christian McCue 3-6 4-7 11; Adrian Hynes-Guery 4-13 0-0 8;
Nathan Joyal 2-6 0-0 5; Rodrigo Imperador 2-5 1-2 5; Winn Clark 0-2 0-0 0;
Gordon Duffley 0-0 0-0 0; Ave Bross 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 16-27 71.

LAVAL.........................   13   23   16   18  -   70
MCGILL........................   15   15   25   16  -   71

3-point goals--LAVAL 3-16 (Hugues Ryan 2-5; Karl Demers-Belanger 1-4;
Rene-Pier Mathieu 0-1; Thibaud Dezutter 0-5; Laurier Beaulac-Duf. 0-1),
MCGILL 3-11 (Vincent Dufort 1-2; Nathan Joyal 1-2; Christian McCue 1-2;
Rodrigo Imperador 0-1; Adrian Hynes-Guery 0-2; Te'Jour Riley 0-2). Fouled
out--LAVAL-None, MCGILL-Te'Jour Riley. Rebounds--LAVAL 33 (Boris
Hadzimuratovic 7; Antoine Beaumier 7), MCGILL 33 (Vincent Dufort 10).
Assists--LAVAL 10 (Karl Demers-Belanger 5), MCGILL 18 (Te'Jour Riley 5).
Total fouls--LAVAL 18, MCGILL 23. Technical fouls--LAVAL-None, MCGILL-None.

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports info office
514-398-7012