MONTREAL -- Montrealer  Quarry Whyne and Sam Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, but it was not enough as the McGill men's basketball team fell 84-78 to visiting Valparaiso University, Saturday, at Love Competition Hall,

It was the first preseason game for Valparaiso, an NCAA Div 1 team from Indiana, located about an hour's drive from Chicago. This was the second contest of the campaign for McGill, which lost their 119th season opener to South Florida two days ago.

The Crusaders had four players reach double digits in scoring. Javon Freeman led the way with 17, followed by Daniel Sackey (16), Eron Gordon (11) and Nick Robinson (10).

In a game that featured seven lead changes, Valpo held an 18-15 advantage after the opening quarter but McGill roared back for a 40-31 halftime lead. The visitors poured it on in the third quarter, however, starting with a 6-0 run before McGill could reply. Then Valpo went on a 17-8 run en route to outscoring the home side 30-14 in the third quarter. McGill took the final stanza 24-23.

"We played with much more effort today and moved the ball better," said McGill head coach David DeAveiro. "It was a learning experience for us and we knew that they would really come hard at us in the third quarter. (Valpo) made a long run at us and I could have called a time out then but I wanted us to play through it and figure it out. So today's lesson was about learning how to play when other teams come at us hard. We'll go back to the tape (on Sunday) and especially watch the third quarter so that we can get a lot better at handling that pressure."

Whyne, a sophomore guard who surpassed his previous career-high by two points, shot 9-for-18 from the floor, including five treys in eight attempts. He added a game-high nine rebounds, to go along with a pair of steals in 29 minutes of court-time.

Jenkins, who posted a game-high 35 minutes of action, also made five threes. He shot 8-for-19 from the floor and drained his only attempt from the charity stripe. He added four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

"Sam is a warrior," DeAveiro said of his 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior guard who made the conference all-rookie team in 2017-18 but struggled as a sophomore. "We were a lot smaller (than Valpo) today and our guards are our strength. So the three-ball will be something that we'll probably use a lot more this year."

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was senior Levi Londole (18 pts, 5 rbs, 7 assists), junior Jamal Mayali (9 pts, 4 rbs) and freshman Cameron Elliot (6 pts, 4 rbs, 7 assists).

McGill had the upper hand in rebounding (34-31) but the Crusaders held a 24-19 advantage in turnovers, which translated into a 27-17 edge on the scoreboard. The visitors shot 49.2 per cent from the field (32/65), including an 8-for 23 performance from three-point range. They went 12-for-16 from the free-throw line, while the home side went 6-for-10. McGill shot 42.3 per cent from the floor (30/71) and drained 12 of 35 treys.

Valparaiso improved to 2-0 lifetime over McGill, including an 80-60 victory in their previous venture north of the border on Aug. 11, 2015. Valpo (1-0) will play at Concordia on Aug. 11, followed by Carleton (Aug. 13) and UQAM (Aug. 14).

McGill (0-2) will look for their first victory of the season on Monday (Aug. 12) when they play host to Quinnipiac University from Hamden, Conn. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Love Competition Hall, located inside the Sir Arthur Currie Gym, at 475 Pine Avenue West. The Bobcats are 1-1 on their Canadian tour, which began with a 98-90 loss to Concordia, the defending RSEQ conference champions, at Place Bell (Aug. 8). Quinnipiac bounced back to defeat Laval 79-76 on Aug. 10.

Tickets for the McGill home games vs NCAA opponents are available online. General admission for adults is $12, while staff, students and seniors are set at $5. Children 12-and-under are admitted free.

GAME NOTES: Both teams wore their dark uniforms, with McGill dressed in their traditional red gear, which is normally worn on the road... ... The Valpo roster features two Canadians, namely sophomore Daniel Sackey of Winnipeg and freshman Ben Krikke, who hails from Edmonton... McGill used to play an extensive schedule against American opponents in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But in 2004, after almost a two-decade absence, McGill began actively looking to schedule games annually against opponents on the other side of the border. Since 2004, the team has posted a 14-51 record in those meetings.

BOXSCORE

McGILL PRESEASON SCHEDULE


SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
Office: 514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca