MONTREAL -- Alex Paquin poured in a game-high 28 points as the No.6 ranked McGill Redmen cruised to a 93-71 victory over visiting Bishop's at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.  It was the fifth straight victory for McGill and their 10th in 11 games.

McGill led 28-13 after the opening quarter, 52-34 at halftime and 70-49 after three. The Redmen extended their lead to a whopping 33 points at one point in the fourth stanza, then put it in cruise control to wait out the clock.

"I thought our guys were actually sluggish in the first half but we got a better effort from everyone in the second half," said head coach David DeAveiro, who improved to 163-106 overall behind the McGill bench, including 93-33 in 126 regular season games. "We've got one more gear to get to. I don't think that we played particularly well today. Bishop's did some things that we hadn't seen from them before. So we'll watch the tape and be ready for them in the playoffs."

Paquin, a six-foot, 190-pound point-guard in his first year after transferring from the NCAA's American University, shot 10-for-16 from the field, including 6-for-11 from three-point range, and was 2-for-2 on free-throws. He also pulled down two rebounds, had five steals and a pair of assists, all in just 22 minutes of court-time.

"He carried us in the first half, played extremely well," said DeAveiro. "I think it's deflating for the other team when Alex starts dropping those threes early on because they have to push up on him but then he can go around them. He's such a complete player that when he starts making shots, it's almost impossible to guard him."

McGill had a 38-33 rebounding advantage and a favourable 23-12 edge in turnovers forced. The Redmen collected 41 points from the bench, compared to 28 by Bishop's.

"With first place already locked up, we wanted to make sure that we shared minutes, gave everyone an opportunity to play today and kept the playing minutes distributed evenly," noted DeAveiro.

The only other McGill player to reach double digits was Dele Ogundokun with 11 points and five rebounds. All 12 McGill players scored points including seven from senior Jenning Leung, the team's scoring leader last year who has been hampered by injuries most of this season.

"Jenning's nursing a charley-horse," revealed DeAveiro. "He struggled a little bit today but he tried to go out and play with that. It's February and everyone's a little banged up and guys are just trying to play through some little injuries and that's why it's important that we don't over-extend anybody and we'll do that over the next two games as well."

The Gaiters had two players in double figures, with Abdul Kamane knocking down a game-high 29 points in a losing cause and Kevin Davis contributing 17 off the bench.

McGill shot 44.7 per cent from the field (34/76) and 29.3 from the arc (12/41) but only drained 13 of 23 free-throw attempts. The Gaiters shot 46.4, 37.8 and 51.9, respectively.

The Redmen now lead the five-team RSEQ conference with a stellar 12-2 record and just two games left to play -- at third-place Laval (7-6) on Feb. 22 and at home to cellar-dwelling UQAM (2-12) on Feb. 24.

"In all honesty, it's hard for an athlete to come out and play at a high level of intensity when the game really has no effect on the standings," said DeAveiro. "We try to emphasize that regardless of where we are in the standings and how things are, that we have to continue to play the same way we've always played throughout the year."

Bishop's (5-1) sits in fourth at 5-10 and will close out their schedule at home to second-place Concordia (9-5) on Feb. 23. The Gaiters are on a collision course with McGill for the league semifinal. McGill has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with the Gaiters and is 22-4 in the last 26 confrontations.
 

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

Pos	TEAM	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PCT	GBL	PTS
1	McGill	14	12	2	1254	941	0.857	0.0	24
2	Concordia	14	9	5	1062	1039	0.643	3.0	18
3	Laval	13	7	6	968	956	0.538	4.5	14
4	Bishop's	15	5	10	1144	1269	0.333	7.5	10
5	UQAM	14	2	12	938	1161	0.143	10.0	4