Box Score
MONTREAL-- Francois Bourque registered a "double-double" as McGill staved off a furious Bishop's comeback and hung on for a hard-fought 78-71 victory in a key CIS men's basketball match-up at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.

The result left McGill, Bishop's and Laval all in a three-way tie atop the RSEQ conference standings, each with identical 3-2 records.

Bourque, a 6-foot-5 forward from Terrebonne, Que., served up a potent witch's brew with a new-look outside shooting attack. He scored 17 points and ripped down a game-high 13 rebounds. The economics sophomore shot 6-for-16 from the floor -- including a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range -- and went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line. He was also credited with one steal and a blocked shot in 35 minutes of court time.

"Shooting from the outside is something that we've encouraged 'Frank' to do," said Redmen head coach David DeAveiro, who collected his 297th career win in 493 games overall as a CIS bench boss at both Ottawa and McGill. "You always want to add to your game as an athlete and not be just a one-dimensional player. So if Frank adds that outside shot, he becomes a tougher guy to guard and that makes us better. He responded tonight by making big shots."

Seven players reached double figures in scoring, four of them from McGill. Vincent Dufort, a senior from Smiths Falls, Ont., and sophomore Michael Peterkin of Toronto, contributed 13 apiece for the Redmen, while sophomore Jenning Leung, a native of the Philippines, added a dozen on a night that featured a halftime show celebrating Filipino culture with a Pamana dance group and the Philippine Basketball Association of Montreal

Dufort, the team captain and a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, played 35 minutes and saw some duty at point-guard,  ending up with eight assists and three steals.

Dele Ogundokun, a sophomore from Hamilton, also contributed to the McGill victory with a well-rounded eight points, six rebounds, five steals, two blocked shots and a pair of assists.

Senior Kyle Desmarais, a transfer from Concordia, paced the Gaiters with 19 points, while Matt McLean, a 6-foot-9 senior from Ottawa and Mike Andrews, a 6-foot-10 senior from Oakville, Ont., added 13 and 12, respectively.

It was a tale of two halves, with McGill leading 39-29 at halftime, including a 21-18 edge after the opening quarter.

The Redmen extended their lead to what appeared to be an unsurmountable 15 points early in the third stanza but the Gaiters rallied to outscore McGill 30-17 in the period and take a 59-56 lead into the final frame.

"That was a very good team we were playing, a group with four fifth-year guys," explained DeAveiro. "That third quarter, they really came at us strong. We had to survive that quarter more than anything else."

BU appeared to be in position to win it, taking a 63-56 lead less than a minute into the final frame but they wilted and it was McGill's turn to rally, outscoring the Gaiters 22-12 down the stretch.

"I thought our defence really clamped down in the fourth quarter. We held them to 12 points and that was really the difference in the game," added the Redmen bench boss.

Bourque hit a jump-shot with 4:36 remaining to narrow the gap to two. On the ensuing play, Ogundokun stole the ball off point-guard Kurtis Caro and fed Leung, who hit a jumper to tie it at 67-67. McGill's Regis Ivaniukas, a sophomore from Oakville, then connected to regain the lead at 69-67 with 3:32 left and they never trailed after that. Although the Gaiters did tie it at 69-69 with 2:58 remaining, Dufort hit a jumper with 2:32 left and the Gaiters never responded after that.

The Redmen had a 43-39 advantage in rebounding and an 11-10 edge in steals. Both teams committed 19 turnovers and had four blocked shots. McGill had a slight margin in shooting, connecting on 40.3 per cent from the floor (29/72) and 29.4 from the arc (5/17). The Gaiters shot 35.7 (25/70) and 26.7 (4/15), respectively. McGill sunk just 15 of 27 from the charity stripe, while BU connected on 17 of 25 attempts.

The teams have now split their first two meetings, with McGill holding a six-point tie-breaker differential. Bishop's won the first meeting 60-59 in the season opener at McGill on Nov. 8 after nailing a game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds. The remaining two match-ups are both slated for the refurbished Mitchell gymnasium in Lennoxville, where World War 3 might just break out on Saturday (Jan. 10). The game is slated to be webcast at 8 p.m.

"It's gonna be a dog fight," predicted DeAveiro. "I think that it's the opening of their brand new gym and it will be a hostile environment. But that's good for us because we will have to play there in the playoffs, so it will be better for us to deal with that now so that we know what to expect."

The last tango before playoffs will be in Lennoxville on Valentine's Day, then Bishop's will have the post-season advantage by hosting the conference's Final Four championship tournament, March 6-7, a new annual format that was introduced last year and is scheduled to rotate between each team in the league.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012