MONTREAL - Sam Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., scored a game-high 22 points as McGill conquered the defending RSEQ champion Concordia Stingers 90-77 in a men's university basketball game before an appreciative Homecoming crowd at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.
 
McGill, which improved to 3-1, moved into a tie with Concordia for top spot in the Quebec league standings. The Stingers suffered their first loss, dropping to 3-1. It was also McGill's third straight win against ConU.
 
"Three-point shooting was definitely the difference in this game today," said head coach David DeAveiro whose side shot an impressive 53.3 per cent (16/30) from downtown compared to Concordia's 8-for-24 performance. "But that's how we play and we spend a lot of time doing it in practice. When we had to dig in and get stops, we did."
 
In a game featuring seven lead changes, McGill won two of the four quarters. Concordia took the opening stanza 21-17 but McGill rallied to take a 38-36 edge into halftime. Following the intermission, it was a 21-21 saw-off in the third, followed by a dominant 31-20 performance by McGill down the stretch.
 
"(We) had every excuse to fold in the fourth quarter because of fatigue and (we) didn't," continued DeAveiro of his side's performance late in the game. "In our practices we're always running so our kids are in good enough shape. What it comes down to is more mental toughness and battling through the fatigue. I think that's a big part of it."
 
While Concordia had Thursday off and were on "fresh legs", McGill was contending with a second match in three days after defeating Bishop's in a tough road game 36 hours prior to tipping off against the Stingers.
 
McGill had a 35-24 edge in rebounding, led 6-5 in steals and held a favourable 14-12 difference in turnovers. In a rarity, no blocks were made by either side in the game.

Jenkins, 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard, shot 8-for-13 from the field and was lethal from beyond the arc, sinking six of his eight trey attempts. The 21-year-old physical education junior also pulled down six rebounds and was credited with three assists and one steal in 32 minutes of court time.
 
Jamal Mayali added 18 points with a game-high nine rebounds, a pair of assists and one steal. He logged 38 minutes of action for the second outing in three days. Quarry Whyne contributed 15 points while Levi Londole added a dozen.
 
Off the bench, Sami Al Uariachi collected a career-high 11 points. The 6-foot-1 management junior from Morocco went 3-for-4 in both field goals and three-pointers and was perfect on his two free-throws.
 
"Sami is probably our hardest working guy," noted DeAveiro. "In practice, he does the things we saw today. So it was good to see him reward himself for all the work and effort he's put in and transfered it to games."
 
Adrian Armstrong led the Stingers with 16 points. Others scoring in double digits were Cedrick Coriolan (11 pts), Olivier Simon (11), Aleksander Simeunovic (11) and Tariq Bakri-Hamad (10).

Concordia also had a 25-17 advantage in points off the bench.
 
McGill shot 47.6 per cent from the floor (30/63), including 14-for-19 from the line. Concordia shot a solid 50.9 per cent (29/57) but only went 11-for-20 from the charity stripe.

McGill (3-1), which continues a stretch of four games in 10 days, visits Laval (0-3) on Nov. 28 at 8 p.m., before closing out the fall semester by hosting Bishop's on Nov. 30.
 
Concordia (3-1) plays at UQAM (2-2) on Nov. 29.

FACES IN THE CROWD: There was an outstanding turnout of McGill basketball alumni on hand for the team's Homecoming celebrations, which included a mini-tournament prior to the varsity game and a halftime presentation of a game jersey to Paul Brousseau, who played from 1986 to 1991 and was the team's most recently honoured member of the McGill Sports Hall of Fame.  Among the other faces spotted were: Francois Bourque, Dele Ogundokun, Daniel Pieper, Simon Bibeau, Philip Jevtovic, Jonathan Arlauskas, Tom Lacy, Nic Yantzi, Alex Paquin, Nathan Joyal, Vincent Dufort, Noah Daoust, Matt Thornhill, Rick Rusk, Jamie Alden, Isaiah Cummins, Regis Ivaniukas, Chris Emergui, Avery Cadogan, Denburk Reid, Bernie Rosanelli, Frederic Bernard, Albert Israel, Patrick Arsenault, Ariel Franco, Luigi Fraquelli, Sylvain Castonguay, Pierre Lissoir, Abdul Atta, Mike Richard, Mike Homsy, Dan Martin, Alfie Paoletti and Pat Baker.