MONTREAL -- Alix Lochard poured in 24 points and Christopher Adu added 19 as the third-seeded Université du Québec à Montréal surprised second-place McGill 79-69 in an RSEQ men's basketball sudden-death semifinal at Love Competition Hall, Wednesday. The result pushed McGill off the lofty perch from which they had ruled for the past five years in the Quebec conference. Four times over that span, McGill had knocked off UQAM in the playoffs.

The Citadins, who also split the four regular season games against McGill, advance to Saturday's league championship game against top-seeded Concordia (11-5), which disposed of fourth-seeded Bishop's 79-71 in Wednesday's other RSEQ semifinal.

UQAM won all four quarters against the Redmen -- the first time this season that McGill was swept in each stanza  -- taking the opening frame 20-18, followed by a 15-14 edge in the second, a 21-15 difference in the third and a 23-22 margin in the final quarter.

McGill, which appeared to have a height advantage under the UQAM basket, couldn't find a way to use it to their benefit as the Citadins dominated their boards 23-9, limiting McGill's offensive chances. Overall, McGill had a slight 30-28 edge under the glass.

"It's been an up and down season for us, kind of like this game today," said head coach David DeAveiro, who has a 392-250 lifetime  record, including a 182-123 mark in nine seasons at McGill. "We showed some streaks where we won a couple in a row, played really well but we also showed our youth and inexperience in some games.

"Today, I thought we battled but (their seniors) made some big shots in key shot clock situations and that's what seniors are supposed to do. So my hat goes off to UQAM and their coaching staff and their kids for playing a great game."

Turnovers proved costly with McGill committing 18, -- compared to UQAM's 15 -- which directly translated into a 27-13 advantage on the scoreboard for the visitors. The officials also made a couple of key calls that went in UQAM's favour but DeAveiro, who appeared upset during the game, refused to point fingers.

"The officials had nothing to do with the game today," noted DeAveiro, who guided the team to one of the best defensive records in the country.  "I thought it was a well-officiated game. UQAM just made big shots when they needed to and we couldn't get the big stops that we normally get. Our kids competed but again, that UQAM team has got some really good players and veterans... who knocked down big shots."

DeAveiro also refused to pin the loss on the absence of four injured starters -- seniors Alex Paquin and Isaiah Cummins in addition to junior Greg Trahan and sophomore Sam Jenkins -- who have been out of the lineup for much of the second semester.

"We probably lost the 'player of the year' in our conference (Paquin) and were without some veterans in Cummins and Trahan who have been in these (playoffs) before," noted DeAveiro, whose roster includes seven freshmen, seven  sophomores and one junior. "They have been successful and kind of lived for these (playoffs). So not having them definitely hurt us but we had home-court advantage and we just didn't defend the way we needed to defend... We made a lot of young mistakes out there defensively but that comes with the territory. When you're dealing with young kids and rookies, you're going to have good and bad and that's just part of the process."

Despite the loss, McGill shot fairly well, making 31 of 59 field-goals (52.5%) and 10 of 23 treys in addition to going 7-for-11 from the line. UQAM connected on 43.1 per cent (25/58), made 7 of 18 threes and went 12-for-20 from the line.

The Redmen finshed with a 14-15 record overall, including a 14-10 mark against Canadian university opponents and a 9-7 result in regular season play.

It was the last collegiate game for Cadogan and Daoust, both fifth-year seniors -- and two of the team's graduating players, along with the aforementioned Paquin and Cummins.

"I want to thank them, they've represented our program with class and respect," noted DeAveiro. "It's unfortunate that we couldn't get the win for them today but they are great guys that have been part of a lot of success here and were going to miss them and wish them the best of luck. We have a pretty good core. We do know that we need to get some more pieces... We need some grit, tough kids who can come in and compete and we need a little more depth."

REDMEN RAP: Four McGill players received honours from an RSEQ official in a pre-game ceremony... Levi Londole received the conference's defensive player-of-the-year award, while Avery Cadogan merited a first-team all-star berth and captain Noah Daoust made the second squad.  Also recognized was McGill freshman Anthony Fisiru, who earned all-rookie status... Condolences go out to Pascal Jobin, a first-year assistant coach on the McGill staff whose father passed away earlier in the week. DeAveiro indicated that Jobin wasn't sure he could keep his focus while sitting on the bench and was planning on watching from the crowd but DeAveiro assured Jobin that his father would've wanted him to be coaching, that he would be honouring his father by sitting in his customary spot on the team bench, where he could get his mind off the tragic situation for a few hours before going back to reality.