MONTREAL -- Alex Paquin netted 16 points and was one of five McGill players to reach double figures in scoring as the visiting Redmen rallied from a 13-point deficit to defeat Concordia 88-81 in an RSEQ men's basketball thriller on the John Dore Court, Thursday.

It was McGill's 13th victory in the last 20 meetings with their cross-town rivals.

The Stingers led 21-17 after the opening quarter and built up a 32-19 advantage early in the second stanza but McGill roared back to win the remaining quarters, 26-20, 19-18 and 26-22. The lead changed hands eight times.

"It took us a while to figure out how to attack them," said McGill bench boss David DeAveiro. "Concordia is a well-coached team and they did a lot of different things defensively to keep us off balance. Once we figured it out, we were in good shape. It was a great game for the regular season and had a playoff atmosphere. Both teams competed hard and with all the pressing and running we do, it still turned out to be a half-court, grind-it-out game."

Paquin, a six-foot, 190-pound point-guard from Montreal, shot 6-for-15 from the field, including a 3-for-6 effort from three-point land, and went 1-for-2 from the line. He collected five rebounds and a pair of assists.

Dele Ogundokun, a fifth-year management senior from Hamilton, Ont.,  added 14 points, six rebounds, one steal and an assist. Senior Jenning Leung, a native of The Philippines, returned after missing two games with an upper body injury suffered in practice and contributed 14 points off the bench. He drained five of seven free-throws and was credited with three rebounds, a pair of steals and two assists.

"Jenning's not a 100 per cent yet but he's a fifth-year guy and he wanted to play," confided DeAveiro. "So the team doctor talked to him and cleared him. When you have more fifth-year guys on the floor, you're going to be more successful. Jenning's been through these tough situations and they don't phase him."

Rounding out McGill's double-digit marksmen was Daniel Pieper, a management junior from Amsterdam, with a dozen points off the bench, plus five rebounds, a pair of steals and three assists. Starter Francois Bourque, a fifth-year management senior from Terrebonne, Que., was credited with 10 points, eight rebounds and a steal.

"It was a balanced attack and that's been our key throughout," added DeAveiro. "Team's can't really can't key in on one guy and when were sharing and moving the ball, it makes us a dangerous team. I thought we did more of that in the second half and our guys were making plays and being unselfish with the ball. But overall, to go into that tough environment and come out with a win, that requires a lot of mental toughness. Both teams are physical defensively and when the refs let things go, it becomes a battle. We needed to be stronger with the ball than in the first meeting (a surprising 70-58 home-court loss on Nov. 18) and we were. It was just a hard-fought battle."

Ken Beaulieu led the Stingers with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds in a losing cause. Teammate Sami Ghandour added 11 points off the bench.

McGill shot a stellar 47.2 per cent from the floor (34/72), went 8-for-21 from three-point range and 12-for-20 from the charity stripe. Concordia countered with 43.1 per cent from the field (28/65) and went 9-for-13 from trey territory but was a sloppy 16-for-33 from the line.

The Stingers committed 19 turnovers, compared to 14 by McGill. The Redmen had a 33-31 edge in rebounds, an impressive 52-38 margin in points in the paint and a 37-34 advantage in points off the bench.

The cross-town rivals are now 1-1 in head-to-head action, with two games remaining between them. Concordia, which dropped to 3-2, will visit the division-leading Redmen (6-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Love Competition Hall. The final rematch will be on Feb. 10 at the Loyola campus.

 

2017-18 RSEQ Men's Basketball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière de basketball masculin

Pos	TEAM	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PCT	GBL	PTS
1	McGill	7	6	1	624	460	0.857	0.0	12
2	Laval	5	4	1	396	354	0.800	1.0	8
3	Concordia	5	3	2	387	366	0.600	2.0	6
4	Bishop's	6	1	5	461	522	0.167	4.5	2
5	UQAM	7	1	6	458	624	0.143	5.0	2