Box Score
MONTREAL – Nathan Joyal, a sophomore from St. Lazare, Que., knocked down 17 points as the McGill men's basketball team cruised to an 83-68 victory over UQAM before 298 at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.

GAME STATS: http://www.sportetudiant-stats.com/universitaire/basketball-m/stats/1213/m31.htm

With three games remaining before playoffs, the victory put McGill back into sole possession of first-place atop the RSEQ standings with a 9-4 record. They sit two points ahead of Bishop's (8-4) and four ahead of Concordia (7-5).

Joyal, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward, shot 6-for-10 from the field, including a stellar 4-for-5 effort from three-point range. He added four rebounds, three assists, a pair of steals and was credited with two blocked shots.

Alexandre Bernard of Gatineau, Que., scored a game-high 24 points in a losing cause for the fourth-place Citadins, who dropped to 4-9.

The Redmen took a 23-19 lead into the second stanza and turned it up a notch, heading into halftime with a 48-29 lead. They faltered somewhat in the third quarter as their lead dwindled to 63-53 but held on in the final quarter.

"We had to make a couple of adjustments going into this game but overall we put up 83 points," said McGill head coach David DeAveiro.  "We had one bad quarter, in the third quarter, defensively, but credit goes to (UQAM) too, they have a very good team."

McGill had four sophomores reach double figures in scoring, despite the absence of two of their top scorers.

Vincent Dufort of Smiths Falls, Ont., contributed 16 points with a half-dozen rebounds, while Te'Jour Riley, a native of Bermuda, had 15 points and four rebounds, and Brazilian Rodrigo Imperador added 11 points and pulled down four boards.

Point-guard Adrian Hynes-Guery has missed five games since suffering a shoulder injury against UQAM on Jan. 19 and considered somewhat doubtful to return before playoffs. Also, junior guard Simon Bibeau was a last-minute scratch during the pre-game warm-up with a swollen elbow that was injured in Thursday's 68-53 win at Laval. His status is considered "day-to-day".

"That's what we tried to (emphasize to) the kids today," said DeAveiro. "That we're not about one or two guys. We're a team. So when teams are preparing to play us, they can't key on one or two guys. They gotta key on the whole squad.

"At first (the loss of Hynes-Guery) was a (huge) impact because we didn't know how to play without Adrian. But we've figured out how to play without him now and other guys are stepping up and fulfilling their roles, so i don't think that's an issue with our group any more. We'd like to have Adrian, he's a great player but I think we've figured out that we can still play without Adrian."

McGill committed a season-low eight turnovers compared to 16 by the Citadins. The Redmen also held a losided 30-18 edge in rebounds and a 7-3 advantage in steals. They shot 45.7 per cent from the floor (32/70), made 10 of 20 three-pointers and went 9-for-14 from the line. UQAM replied on 49.0, 57.1 and 66.7, respectively.

McGill (9-4), which improved to 17-6 against CIS teams overall, returns to action on Feb. 16 when they host second-place Bishop's (8-4).

Newspaper Box Score
(02/09/13 16h00 at Love competition Hall)

REDMEN 83, CITADINS 68

CITADINS

Alexandre Bernard 9-16 3-5 24; Richard Addai 7-13 0-0 17; Marvin Bazile 4-6
0-0 8; Nicolas Audet 2-5 0-0 5; Vincent L.-Fortier 0-3 4-4 4; Philippe Tamba
1-4 2-4 4; Vincent Champagne 1-1 1-2 3; Alan Pivovar 1-3 0-0 3; Yassin
Debache 0-0 0-0 0; Gregory St-Amand 0-0 0-0 0; Paul-Emile Colas 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 25-51 10-15 68.

REDMEN

Nathan Joyal 6-10 1-1 17; Vincent Dufort 5-9 4-4 16; Te'Jour Riley 6-11 2-4
15; Rodrigo Imperador 5-5 0-0 11; Winn Clark 4-9 1-2 9; Christian McCue 3-12
0-1 8; Ave Bross 2-7 1-2 5; Aleksandar Mitrovic 1-3 0-0 2; Philip Jevtovic
0-0 0-0 0; Gordon Duffley 0-4 0-0 0; Jonathan Arlauskas 0-0 0-0 0; Joseph Sykes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-70 9-14 83.

Citadins......................   19   10   24   15  -   68
Redmen........................   23   25   15   20  -   83

3-point goals--Citadins 8-14 (Richard Addai 3-5; Alexandre Bernard 3-3;
Nicolas Audet 1-2; Alan Pivovar 1-2; Philippe Tamba 0-1; Vincent L.-Fortier
0-1), Redmen 10-20 (Nathan Joyal 4-5; Christian McCue 2-7; Vincent Dufort
2-2; Rodrigo Imperador 1-1; Te'Jour Riley 1-1; Gordon Duffley 0-1;
Aleksandar Mitrovic 0-1; Ave Bross 0-2). Fouled out--Citadins-None,
Redmen-None. Rebounds--Citadins 18 (Alexandre Bernard 6), Redmen 30 (Vincent Dufort 6). Assists--Citadins 9 (Nicolas Audet 3; Vincent L.-Fortier 3),
Redmen 17 (Te'Jour Riley 4; Christian McCue 4). Total fouls--Citadins 14,
Redmen 21. Technical fouls--Citadins-None, Redmen-None.

SOURCE:

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