MONTREAL -- Jordan Mitchell came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points as the Towson University Tigers preyed upon McGill 84-53 in men's preseason basketball at Love Competition Hall, Thursday. It was the fourth victory in five games for the Tigers, an NCAA Div. 1 program from Towson, Md., which posted a 20-13 third-place finish in the 10-team Colonial Athletic Association last season. Towson opened their six-day Canadian excursion with a 94-74 victory over UQAM, followed by a 74-64 conquest at Carleton, an 89-86 loss to a Canadian selects squad and a 70-51 win at Laval.

McGill, the defending Quebec conference champions, dropped to 0-3 in exhibition play against some very athletic NCAA squads. They appeared to start the game in neutral gear, while the Tigers looked to be in overdrive. Towson led 22-10 after the opening quarter and 48-12 at halftime before the Redmen made a game of it. The Tigers outscored McGill 15-10 in the third and a high-scoring final stanza ended up tied at 21-21.

"I don't think we were ready to play three games in four nights against the calibre of ball that we saw here this week," said McGill head coach David DeAveiro, whose troops were missing three players and only had four practices to get into game shape. "That's a senior team, they're very good, well-coached and athletic. We just didn't have the energy to compete with them today."

The Tigers had a 35-27 edge in rebounding and a favorable 21-14 advantage in turnovers. They also led 14-7 in steals and 7-2 in blocked shots.

"As the game went on, we got a little better but we can't simulate that in practice, that kind of athleticism, length (i.e. height) and senior leadership," DaVeiro said. "We just can't duplicate that on one day of prep to play a team that presses like that."

Dele Ogundokun paced the McGill offence with nine points and a pair of rebounds, while freshman Jamal Mayali tallied eight points and four rebounds. Teammates Jenning Leung, Isaiah Cummins and Sam Jenkins added five points apiece. Rounding out the scoring for the home side was senior Francois Bourque and rookie Arnaud Boyer-Cillis, with four each.

"We know who we have in terms of our veterans," noted DeAveiro, whose preseason roster features eight seniors, one junior, three sophomores and eight freshmen. "For us, this is an opportunity to play some of our young kids; to put them in some pretty good situations and see how they react."

Joining Jordan McNeill in double digits for Towson was Zane Martin and Justin Gorham, with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

The Tigers shot lights out, connecting on 53 per cent from the field (35/66) and 47 per cent from three-point range (8/17). They were 6-for-10 from the free-throw line. McGill shot only 30 per cent from the floor (18/60), went 8-for-25 from downtown and 75 per cent from the line (9/12).

"Our guys were really locked in today," said Towson bench boss Pat Skerry, who watched the game from the stands to get a good look at his troops. "We knew that McGill should've beaten SMU the other day and we know how good SMU is, so we were locked in early, trying to take away (McGill's) three-point shot. We knew if we could do that, we would take the game in transition."

The NCAA permits teams to go on one international trip every four years, which allows them to hold an early 10-day training camp. The Tigers' itinerary was packed with sightseeing at famous landmarks like Old Montreal, the Olympic Stadium, Mount Royal Park and St. Joseph's Oratory, as well as Quebec City and the Canadian parliament buildings in the national capital.

"This trip was an awesome experience, many thanks to J.D. Sports," added Skerry in reference to McGill assistant coach John Dangelas, who operates a company that organizes annual tours for NCAA basketball teams. "The trip was first-class. We played really good teams. Montreal is a world class city and we also got to see Quebec City and Ottawa, which were awesome."

Towson now faces an 880-kilometre overnght bus ride back to Maryland.

McGill, which dropped to 10-42 against American squads since 2004, will now focus on preparing for an exotic excursion to Costa Rica, where they will play four games in as many nights against American college teams. They are slated to tip-off against Kent State (Aug. 14) and Lamar University (Aug. 15), followed by back-to-back confrontations against Texas - El Paso (Aug. 16-17). The Redmen will return to the friendly confines of the Sir Arthur Currie gym the following week when they conclude their extensive NCAA schedule with home games against St. Francis College from Brooklyn, N.Y., (Aug. 28), Siena College (Aug. 30) and Hofstra (Sept. 2).


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
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Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
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