MONTREAL -- Team captain
Noah Daoust of Dorval, Que., scored a game-high 23 points and
Anthony Fisiru from Gatineau, Que., registered a "double-double" as McGill defeated Laval 91-73 on "Seniors Night" in RSEQ men's basketball, Saturday at Love Competition Hall.
The event also served as the team's "Black History Month" game.
The result gave McGill three wins in four meetings against Laval, clinched second place in the five-team Quebec league with a 9-7 record and eliminated the Rouge et Or from post-season play (5-11). The Redmen will host third-place UQAM (8-8) in a sudden-death semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. The other semi will feature fourth-seeded Bishop's (7-9) against division-leading Concordia (11-5).
The teams were tied 22-22 after the first quarter but the Redmen took a 43-41 edge into halftime and widened the gap to 64-57 after three.
"We played so well in the (beginning), scored 43 points in the first half, sometimes we don't score that many in a game," mused head coach
David DeAveiro. "So I just said to them at halftime that you have to reward yourselves when you have a half like that and we didn't do it defensively. Yes Laval made some (great) shots but the law of averages tells you that they're not going to keep shooting like that in the second half. We talked about tightening up our defence, putting more pressure and not giving them easy looks. I don't think we defended at all in the first half, to tell you the truth. They shot well but we didn't defend well. In the second half we showed more ball pressure and more effort and kept them to a reasonable amount (of points)."
Daoust, a fifth-year industrial relations student who was one of four graduating seniors honoured in a pre-game ceremony, shot 8-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-5 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. He added three rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Fisiru, tallied 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. He shot 8-for-13 from the field and added three assists.
Other Redmen to reach double-digits were
Quarry Whyne (17) and
JJ Hamel-Carey (10).
Laval's offence was led by
Alexandre Leclerc (21),
Vladimir Thomas (17) and
Nicolas Begin (10)
.
The Redmen shot 55.1 per cent from the field (38/69), 7-for-21 from downtown and went 8-for-12 on the free-throw line (66.7 per cent). Laval shot 41.2 per cent (21/51) and 61.1 (11/18), respectively. They went 20-for-25 from the stripe.
The other seniors joining Daoust (Arts '19) in the pre-game ceremony was fifth-year veteran
Avery Cadogan (Arts '19), who was red-shirted in his freshman year, as well as injured players
Isaiah Cummins (Science '19) and
Alex Paquin (Certificate in Finance '19). The players were presented with a framed game jersey.
"Its so unfortunate that we didn't get a chance to see Isaiah and Alex play out their final season," said DeAveiro. "The fans got robbed a bit, especially with Alex and all the things he does on the court (he dropped 29 points on Duke in the preseason). In terms of Avery and Noah, they played five years and that's a sacrifice. It's dedication to a cause, a school and I can't even do it justice by talking about it."
2018-19 RSEQ Men's Basketball Standings (FINAL)
| 1 |
Concordia |
16 |
11 |
5 |
1283 |
1203 |
0.688 |
0.0 |
22 |
| 2 |
McGill |
16 |
9 |
7 |
1154 |
1111 |
0.563 |
2.0 |
18 |
| 3 |
UQAM |
16 |
8 |
8 |
1219 |
1215 |
0.500 |
3.0 |
16 |
| 4 |
Bishop's |
16 |
7 |
9 |
1222 |
1276 |
0.438 |
4.0 |
14 |
| 5 |
Laval |
16 |
5 |
11 |
1176 |
1249 |
0.313 |
6.0 |
10 |
