MONTREAL -- Abdul Kamane collected a 'double-double" and his visiting Bishop's Gaiters took advantage of a depleted McGill lineup en route to a 79-69 victory in RSEQ men's basketball, Thursday, at Love Competition Hall.

The No.9 ranked Redmen were missing four seniors, including scoring leader and all-star point-guard Alex Paquin, who were in China, representing Canada at the FISU 3-on-3 Basketball World University League championships. Other veterans joining Paquin was forward Noah Daoust, along with guards Avery Cadogan and Isaiah Cummins. Accompanying them to the Far East was assistant coach Aleks Mitrovic.

The Gaiters jumped into a 19-6 lead after the opening quarter and extended it to 44-21 at the half before McGill made some adjustments. Bishop's won the third quarter 23-22 but the Redmen rallied to take the final stanza 26-12.

BU had a lopsided 48-33 margin in rebounds and a 3-0 edge in steals. McGill had  a favourable 18-17 advantage in turnovers and an 8-7 difference in steals.

"Our kids played well in the second half, we played with a lot more energy and a higher compete level in our game," said David DeAveiro, head coach at McGill. "Unfortunately, it took us a half to get it going but that's my fault. they guys weren't ready to play. I didn't prepare my guys well enough to come out and have them understand that Bishop's was going to come out, play solid defence and be aggressive like they were."

Kamane was a one-man wrecking ball with 22 points, 14 rebounds,  four steals, one block and a pair of assists. He was one of three Gaiters in double digits, along with Duncan Lambert (17 pts) and Jordan Thornhill (12).

Leading the way for McGill was sophomore JJ Hamel-Carey, a 6-foot-1 point-guard from Montreal North, who posted a career-best 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including a 3-for-7 effort from three-point range. The 23-year-old physical education major added three rebounds, one steal and a pair of assists in just 20 minutes of court-time.

Teammates Sam Jenkins, a sophomore from Hanilton (who just returned from an injury) and Jamal Mayali, a sophomore from Toronto each added nine points. Levi Londole , a second-year transfer from Northwest College who hails from LaSalle, Que., contributed six points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Bishop's shot 44.3 per cent from the floor (31/70), went 9-for-26 from downtown and 8-for-15 from the free-throw line. The Redmen shot 33.3 from the field (23/69), connected on 11 of 34 treys nad drained 12 of 20 attempts from the line.

The Gaiters (2-0) will host Laval on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mitchell Gym. It was the first loss of the regular season for McGill, which dropped to 2-1. They will have a week to prepare for their next game, at home against Concordia, on Thursday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. The missing McGill quartet will be back in time from their excursion to China but are uncertain to dress, depending how affected they will by by jet lag. The upcoming game vs the Stingers will be McGill's second annual Pots 'n Pans night, with a lucky fan getting an opportunity to shoot a basket from mid-court for a $10,000 prize.