MONTREAL -- Team captain Francois Bourque of Terrebonne, Que., scored a "reverse double-double" as the No.6-ranked McGill Redmen dominated Laval 92-56 in their RSEQ men's basketball home opener, Thursday, at Love Competition Hall.

The 36-point spread was McGill's largest margin of victory over Laval in 22 years, since a lopsided 105-55 home-court win on Feb. 10, 1995. The Redmen have now won four consecutive meetings with the Rouge et Or and 20 of the last 24 confrontations. They lead the all-time series between the provincial rivals by a 65-56 margin since first crossing paths in 1966-67.

McGill had a narrow 18-15 advantage after the first quarter, then shifted into high gear. They led 39-25 at halftime and were comfortably ahead 65-41 heading into the final frame, which they won 27-15.

Five players reached double-digits in scoring for McGill despite no individual spending more than 26 minutes on the court. The Redmen registered a single-game school record 53 points off the bench.

"We've been saying all year that our second unit could probably be the first unit for many teams," said McGill head coach David DeAveiro, whose troops improved to 10-8 overall after an extensive preseason schedule. "It gives us the ability to wear teams down. We can go 10 deep (into our line-up) and not have any drop-off.

"Our energy was great," he added. "We talk about energy all the time and playing with a sense of urgency and we did that today. In the first half we missed some easy buckets and had some really good looks that we didn't finish, so that was what we talked about at halftime. We were playing well but we just need to finish better in the second half, and we did that."

Bourque, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound forward, tallied 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, including seven in the defensive zone. He shot an efficient 4-for-5 from the field, including a surprising 2-for-3 from three-point range -- not normally his modus operandi. He also had four assists and stole a game-high four balls.

Senior Jenning Leung of the Philippines and rookie Sam Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., each netted 15 points in the match. Leung, a 6-foot-1, 181-pound guard, shot 6-for-16 from the field including 3-for-9 from beyond the arc, grabbed two rebounds and stole three balls. Jenkins, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard, shot 5-for-10 from the floor, including 3-for-7 from downtown. He was perfect on two free-throws, collected three rebounds and had one steal.

"Sam played with a lot of confidence and a lot of energy," said DeAveiro of his prized recruit who came off the bench and saw 23 minutes of court-time. "He's not like your typical freshman who's like a deer in headlights. He's confident and knows what he's doing. He's played in a lot of big games throughout high school, so he's just playing the way he's always played."

Noah Daoust, a 6-foot-7, 221-pound centre from Dorval, Que., followed with a dozen points and seven rebounds. The industrial relations senior shot 5-for-9 from the field, including 1-for-3 on treys. He sank one of two free-throws, added four assists and was credited with a block. Alex Paquin of Montreal, a transfer student from American University in Washington, scored 11 points and corralled five defensive rebounds. He also had two assists and a pair of steals.

"Everyone was real good today for the attention to detail and the energy," said DeAveiro, who improved to 152-104 overall in eight seasons behind the Redmen bench. "We just kind of broke Laval's spirit and broke their will once we got over 20 ahead and kept it going."

Alexandre Leclerc led the visitors with 14 points and five rebounds.

The Redmen shot 44.6 per cent from the field (37/83), including 37.5 from beyond the arc (12/32), and were 6-for-7 on free-throws. Laval shot 33.9 (19/56), 38.1 (8/21), and 47.6 (10/21), respectively.

"One of our points of emphasis is we're trying to get open threes," DeAveiro explained. "We want to take as many open threes as we can. We're trying to create that much more than we ever had before so we're getting more opportunities, and they're good shots. We put in regular time in the gym and our guys have to make 300 threes a week, so we're starting to see the results of all the shooting we've been doing."

McGill had a 43-39 edge in rebounds, a massive 14-3 margin in steals and a huge 25-8 advantage in turnovers forced, their lowest turnover total in years. The Rouge et Or had a 4-2 difference in blocks.

"Our defence now is about creating turnovers," DeAveiro noted. "We want to create at least 20 a game and try to get some easy scores off our defence."

The Rouge et Or (0-1) return to the court against Concordia (1-0) on Nov. 12. McGill (1-0) visits UQAM (0-1) on Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. before a much-anticipated home game against Concordia on Nov. 18.

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