MONTREAL – Oge Nwoko only scored five points but he saved the best for last, draining a pair of free-throws with 8.4 seconds remaining as Concordia rallied to upset first-place McGill 68-67 in men's basketball at the John Dore Court, Thursday.
 
McGill, which dropped to 8-3, remains atop the RSEQ standings. They sit six points ahead of the Stingers, who improved to 5-3 and now are tied for second-place with UQAM (5-5) but holds two games in hand.
 
The result, combined with last week's setback to UQAM, marked McGill's first back-to-back losses of the entire 2019-20 schedule, dating back a pair of exhibition defeats to Alberta and Ottawa in late October. It also snapped McGill's modest two-game win streak over Concordia.
 
In a game that featured a dozen lead changes, McGill went ahead 22-14 after one quarter and stretched the advantage to a 13-point cushion midway through the second, before the Stingers fought back to draw even at 34-34 by the break. Concordia led 39-37 after three and McGill won the final quarter 20-19 but fell one basket shy when senior Levi Londole missed a 10-foot jumper on the last play of the game.
 
McGill had only 13 of the 34 turnovers committed. However, the Stingers had a 40-33 rebounding advantage and a 2-1 blocking edge. McGill had the upper hand in steals (9-4).
 
JJ Hamel-Carey scored a game-high 18 points in a losing cause for McGill. The physical education junior shot 8-for-14 from the field and hit two of five attempts from three-point range. The 6-foot-1 point-guard from Montreal North also collected four rebounds, a pair of assists and had two steals.
 
Teammate Quarry Whyne was the only other McGillian to hit double figures which 13 points, going 3-for-8 in three-pointers, while offensive talisman Jamal Mayali was limited to four points in 28 minutes of court time before fouling out in the final stanza.
 
McGill collected 36 points off the bench compared to Concordia's 11. The supporting cast included finance junior Sami Al Uarichi and history sophomore Antoney Bell who tallied nine points apiece.

Concordia's firepower relied almost exclusively on its trio of double digit shooters in the form of Sami Jahan (17), Olivier Simon (16) and Cédrick Bryan Coriolan (14).
 
McGill shot 38.6 per cent from the floor (27/70) and made 11 of 33 from the three-point arc but shot a meager 2-for-11 from the free-throw line. The Stingers shot 39.3 and 39.1, respectively and drained an impressive 15 of 23 from the line.

Hosting duties now shift to McGill (8-3) on Saturday, Jan. 25, when the Stingers (5-3) visit Love Competition Hall for a 2 p.m. tip-off, that will be followed by the women's contest.