MONTREAL -  McGill senior Alex Paquin led all scorers with 26 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome a potent South Dakota State University attack, as the Redmen dropped a Thursday night nail-biter 76-69 to the Jackrabbits in men's university basketball at Love Competition Hall.
 
South Dakota State, which hails from Brookings, S.D., is coming off an impressive 13-1 season and first-place showing in the NCAA's eight-team Summit League conference. They never trailed in the game, leading 17-14 after the opening quarter, 37-33 at the half and 55-46 after three. McGill took the final stanza 23-21.

Paquin, a six-foot point-guard who played a team-high 31 minutes, was 9-for-22 shooting, including a 4-of-5 effort from three-point range. He made four of his five free-throws and contributed four rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists. Paquin heated up in the third quarter, going 3-for-5 from the field and continued his strong play in the final period, adding eight more to finish with 26.

Leading the way for for SDSU were senior guards Brandon Key (22 points) and Skyler Flatten, (20), in addition to sophomore David Jenkins added 11 .
 
The teams were neck-and-neck throughout the game and both pulled down 41 rebounds off the glass. The Jacks held a slim 8-7 advantage in steals and a 3-2 edge in blocked shots.
 
Sophomore Levi Londole of LaSalle, Que., tallied 10 points with six rebounds for the Redmen, while teammate Noah Daoust, a fifth-year forward from Dorval, Que., contributed seven points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
 
"We are progressing and have gotten better since the first two games," said McGill head coach David DeAveiro. "Our first and second-year players are getting valuable minutes. Our defence did well and held Mike Daum, their high-scoring, 6-foot-9 forward, to eight points. If we had shot better we could have had a "W". Another improvement was in the turnover department, which has gone from 22 against Ole Miss last week, to 29 against Cincinnati to 15 tonight."

The Redmen shot 31.3 per cent from the field, 20.6 from the arc and 80.0 from the line. The Jacks shot 40.9, 35.5 and 78.6, respectively.

Another bright spot for McGill was the play of their bench, which scored 29 points, compared to just 10 from the visitors.

"McGill is a physical, well-coached team," Jackrabbits head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "I was pleased how our team responded to adversity. Brandon Key and Skyler Flatten brought tremendous energy from start to finish, and they were certainly the difference for us tonight."

South Dakota State continues their Canadian tour in the nation's capital starting Friday, with two games against the Carleton Ravens (Aug. 10 & 12) sandwiched by a clash against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Aug. 11.
 
The Redmen are now 0-3 in preseason play, with previous losses against the Ole Miss Rebels and Cincinnati Bearcats. McGill's NCAA schedule continues with a Sunday afternoon affair versus the Vermont Catamounts in a 2 p.m. tip-off, before taking on the Duke Blue Devils at Place Bell on August 19 at 3 p.m.. A small number of tickets are still available online for both Vermont and Duke.