MONTREAL -- Sophomore
Jamal Mayali of Toronto came off the bench to produce a masterful career-high 20-point performance as McGill showed no Valentine's Day love against No.10 ranked Concordia, cruising to a 70-59 upset in men's university basketball at the John Dore Court, Thursday.
The game featured 18 lead changes and was McGill's first win in four meetings this season with the division-leading Stingers although the Redmen have won seven of their last 11 match-ups and 17 of the last 27. The result also clinched a playoff berth for McGill (8-6) and put a damper on Seniors Night for the Stingers (10-4), who had already clinched first place in the RSEQ conference.
McGill won three of the four quarters, with an 18-17 edge in the first and an 11-11 saw-off in the second. After the intermission, the visitors won the final two stanzas 22-16 and 19-15, respectively.
"We talked about keeping their score in the 60s to have a chance to win, we couldn't get into a shootout with them, so our defence and rebounding had to be on point," said McGill head coach
David DeAveiro, whose troops have the best defensive record in the league, averaging 68.5 points against per game.
"I thought that our young group defended and competed with everything they had tonight... We were good at attacking the basket, that's something that we've been emphasizing more and the guys did a good job of that today."
Mayali was one of four Redmen to reach double digits in scoring. The 6-foot-3, 178-pound guard, was pitch-perfect, shooting 9-for-9 from the field, including a 2-for-2 effort from three-point range. A 20-year-old political science major, Mayali also pulled down five rebounds and was credited with a pair of steals in 29 minutes of court time. He leads the RSEQ conference in three-point shooting with a success rate of 56 per cent, sinking 14 of 25 attempts.
"I feel tremendous for Jamal, he's been putting in a lot of time at the gym into working on his game, so he's being rewarded for that," DeAveiro stated. "He had a pretty good freshman season last year until he got hurt. He continues to work hard and deserves every bit of success he's having."
Anthony Fisiru added 13 points with seven rebounds, three assists, one blocked shot and a steal.
JJ Hamel-Carey scored a dozen points with a game-high 31 minutes on the court and
Noah Daoust added 10 points.
Avery Cadogan, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, was limited to just three points and one board in 16 minutes before fouling out for the second straight contest.
Ricardo Monge led the Stingers with 29 points and nine rebounds in a losing cause. The only other Concordia player in double figures was
Cedrick Bryan-Coriolan with 11 points.
McGill, which benefited from a 28-13 advantage in scoring off the bench, had a 39-36 edge in rebounding and a 4-0 margin in blocks. Concordia led 8-7 in steals and held a favourable 14-11 difference in turnovers.
The Redmen shot an impressive 49.1 per cent from the floor (27/55), including 5-for-21 from downtown and went 11-for-17 from the line. The Stingers shot only 30.1 (22/73), went 9-for-27 from the arc and 6-for-9 from the charity stripe.
"Over the last two games, we've won six quarters and tied the other two," added DeAveiro. "I think that we've built some confidence now as we head towards the playoffs."
Concordia (10-4) plays at Bishop's (5-9) on Feb. 16, while McGill (8-6) can clinch second-place with a win in their next game, at UQAM (6-7) on Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. The Redmen will tehn close out their schedule at home to Laval (5-8) on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.
WALKING WOUNDED: Coach DeAveiro disclosed after the game that junior guard
Greg Trahan is out for the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury in the team's last game on Feb. 9 vs UQAM... DeAveiro also confirmed that veteran point-guards
Alex Paquin and
Isaiah Cummins are also done for the season with concussion issues. Paquin, who tallied 29 points in the preseason game versus Duke, last played in an exhibition against Brandon on Dec. 29... As for Cummins, his last appearance in the lineup was against Concordia on Nov. 22.
2018-19 RSEQ Men's University Basketball Standings
(16-GAME SCHEDULE, TOP 4 QUALIFY FOR PLAYOFFS)
| 1 |
x-Concordia |
14 |
10 |
4 |
1122 |
1046 |
0.714 |
0.0 |
20 |
| 2 |
x-McGill |
14 |
8 |
6 |
988 |
959 |
0.571 |
2.0 |
16 |
| 3 |
UQAM |
13 |
6 |
7 |
978 |
994 |
0.462 |
3.5 |
12 |
| 4 |
Laval |
13 |
5 |
8 |
953 |
984 |
0.385 |
4.5 |
10 |
| 5 |
Bishop's |
14 |
5 |
9 |
1069 |
1127 |
0.357 |
5.0 |
10 |
x-clinched a playoff berth
