MONTREAL –
Dele Ogundokun of Hamilton, Ont., scored a game-high 29 points and set a school record with seven treys leading No.9-ranked McGill to a lopsided 96-56 victory over visiting Concordia in RSEQ men's hoops, Thursday, before a raucous crowd of 703 fans as part of a "Pots 'n Pans" promotion at Love Competition Hall. This game had everything, including the McGill fight band and the Red Thunder fan club. The only thing missing was the kitchen sink.
It was McGill's 10th win in the last 13 confrontations with the Stingers, their largest margin of victory ever over their cross-town rivals and the most points scored by the Redmen in 112 regular season contests dating back to a 102-88 victory at Bishop's on Nov. 20, 2009.
"As soon as the lights went out and the crowd got into it for our pre-game intro, I knew we would have the energy to come out strong," said McGill head coach
David DeAveiro, who spent most of the day at home sick but made it to the gym in time to improve his record to 128-89 in seven seasons behind the Redmen bench. "We need this type of crowd every game. I don't think they realize the impact they have. Our players feed off it and it fuels our success."
The Redmen came out of the gate on fire and led 31-7 after the opening quarter. They extended that to 53-18 at halftime and 74-33 after three. McGill, which led by as much as 45 at one point, reached the 20-point plateau in all four quarters with a high of 22 in the final frame to put an exclamation mark on the victory. They had a 38-30 rebounding advantage, won the turnover battle 16-14 and posted an impressive 10-5 edge in steals. The Redmen tallied 22 points off miscues, compared to only six by the Stingers.
"I thought it was a total team effort," added DeAveiro."Our first five guys really set the tone on how we were going to play and then our bench carried that through and gave us solid minutes down the stretch."
Ogundokun, a 6-foot-2, 222-pound guard -- who missed the last game with three of his McGill teammates as they competed for Canada at the FIBA 3x3 Championships in Qatar -- had the hot hand. The 22-year-old management senior, who is majoring in economics and accounting, shot 11-for-15 from the floor, including a ridiculous 7-for-10 effort from three-point range. It marked the first time in McGill hoops history that a member of the Redmen had tallied seven treys in regular season play, although it had happened three times before in exhibition play. Ogundokun also contributed six rebounds, five steals, four assists and two blocks in 25 minutes of court time.
"Dele has been putting in time with his shot and it showed," mentioned DeAveiro. "His fitness is finally at the level we needed and you can see if had a little more life in his legs tonight."
Joining him in double figures was
Jenning Leung (14 points),
Kendrick Jolin (13) and
Avery Cadogan (12). Teammate
Francois Bourque also had a solid night, contributing nine points, seven rebounds and one assist.
Ken Beaulieu led Concordia with 10 points. It was a difficult setback for second-year Stingers head coach
Rastko Popovic, whose team dropped to 2-2 in league play.
The Redmen shot a stellar 56.5 per cent from the field (35/62), went 17-for-32 from beyond the arc and dropped nine of 15 free-throws. Concordia shot 27 per cent (17/63), made four of 17 treys and went 18-for-31 from the line.
McGill, which improved to 8-3 against U Sports opponents, is 2-1 in regular-season play and tied atop the RSEQ standings with UQAM (2-1) and Laval (2-1).
The Redmen will have a one-day break before travelling to Lennoxville, Que., to confront Bishop's (0-3) on Nov. 26 at 4 p.m. in a contest that will be streamed live on the
Gaiters website. Concordia will look to rebound when they travel across town to UQAM (2-1) for their final game of the semester on Dec. 2.
REDMEN RAP: The three previous times that a McGill player had made seven treys in an exhibition game were accomplished by
Thomas Lacy (7-for-9 from the arc) in a 101-78 victory over Guelph on Oct. 4, 2014 at the Frank Tindall basketball tournament in Kingston, Ont., and by McGill's four varsity teams that captured titles in the fall semester were recognized at halftime…The rowing club had two boats that won gold medals at the OUA championship in St. Catharines, Ont., the Martlet cross-country running squad claimed the RSEQ banner in Sherbrooke and the McGill sailing club won gold at the Fleet Race Nationals in Kingston, Ont. The fourth team, the baseball Redmen who won the CCBA national championship in Montreal last month, were unable to attend and are expected to be recognized at the Management Carnival Game against Queen's on Jan. 13.
| 2016-7 RSEQ Men's Basketball Standings (updated) • Classement de la saison régulière du RSEQ |
|
|
| 1 |
UQAM |
3 |
2 |
1 |
228 |
228 |
0.667 |
0.0 |
4 |
| 2 |
McGill |
3 |
2 |
1 |
235 |
197 |
0.667 |
0.0 |
4 |
| 3 |
Laval |
3 |
2 |
1 |
201 |
191 |
0.667 |
0.0 |
4 |
| 4 |
Concordia |
4 |
2 |
2 |
270 |
301 |
0.500 |
0.5 |
4 |
| 5 |
Bishop's |
3 |
0 |
3 |
203 |
220 |
0.000 |
2.0 |
0 |
