MONTREAL – Freshman Sami Jahan of Hamilton, Ont., put up 28 points as Concordia rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to hand McGill a frustrating 89-83 overtime loss in men's university basketball, Saturday, at Love Competition Hall.
 
The second-place Stingers, who improved to 6-3, narrowed the gap in the RSEQ standings to just four points with three games in hand in their pursuit of division-leading McGill, which sits atop the RSEQ standings with an 8-4 record. It marked the third consecutive setback for McGill, which is 6-5 in their last 11 meetings with Concordia.

McGill frittered away a 72-59 lead with 6:28 remaining in regulation time and seemed to have the game in control with just two minutes to go and an 80-73 advantage. But the Stingers went on a 7-0 run to force overtime when Cedrick Coriolan made a pair of fee-throws with 34 seconds remaining on the clock. Concordia won the extra five-minute session 9-3.
 
Fans watched in disbelief as a school record four players fouled out for McGill late in the contest, three of them starters. Levi Londole was whistled for his fifth foul with 3:29 left in fourth quarter, while Quarry Whyne was sent off with 2:23 remaining in overtime, followed by Sami Al-Uariachi with 26 seconds left in extra time and Cameron Elliott, who concluded the exodus just 49 seconds before the final whistle.
 
"This wasn't about overtime. This was when we were up by seven and could have put the game away but we didn't," said an unhappy McGill head coach David DeAveiro, whose troops were whistled for 29 personal fouls compared to 18 by the visitors. McGill went 19-for-23 from the charity stripe while the Stingers were 24-for-34.

"When it mattered most, they just out-willed us. They got every big rebound... every tough bucket and we just didn't play with any intelligence down the stretch," added DeAveiro. "We always play hard but playing hard and not playing intelligent are two different things. I thought that our effort was good. But we're so used to winning games like this and to come out two games in a row where we don't do that, is something that we have to get better at if we want to compete for a championship. (Concordia) is a good team that competes and never gives up.
 
"The good thing about this league is that it's a long season and when you get to the playoffs, its about (playing) two games (a semifinal and a final)... I'm not concerned about home-court (advantage). What I'm concerned about is being able to close a game like this down the stretch. Home court doesn't matter to me. When you get up seven (points), you gotta win games like this. You can't (throw) away a game like this."

Concordia led 21-19 after the opening quarter but McGill rallied to outscore their cross-town rivals 22-16 in the second, taking a 41-37 lead at halftime. A strong third quarter gave the hosts a 62-55 advantage heading into the fourth frame but the Stingers produced their best performance down the stretch, outscoring McGill 25-18. The Stingers almost won it in regulation when Jahan missed an open three at the buzzer.
 
In the extra five-minute stanza, McGill drew first blood with a clean, old-fashioned three-point play by Elliot. But it was the only offence the home side could muster as the Stingers ran amok, scoring nine unanswered baskets, including a perfect 4-for-4 free-throw performance by Jahan to seal the win.
 
Quarry Whyne, an economics sophomore, collected 22 points in a losing cause for McGill. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Montreal went 7-for-13 from the field, including two long-range treys. He also managed a perfect 6-for-6 in free-throws and earned six rebounds and one assist.

In contrast to their more muted previous outing, a last-second 68-67 loss at Concordia, McGill's starting line-up almost singularly guided the team's attack. Along with Whyne, Londole, Elliot, Sam Jenkins and Jamal Mayali, combined for an impressive 81 points.  Jenkins played 43 of the 45 minutes and Elliot put in a particularly valiant effort with the freshman guard leading his team in three-pointers (3-of-4), rebounds (8), and assists (5) in 37 minutes of court time. 
 
Other Stingers to join Jahan in double-digit performances were Olivier Simon with 21 points and Oge Nwoko with 15.

Concordia had a 45-30 rebounding advantage and an 8-5 edge in steals. McGill registered one block while the Stingers had none and the teams tied in turnovers at 15 apiece. McGill shot 43.1 per cent from the floor (28/65) and drained eight of 26 treys, compared to Concordia, which shot 39.4 (28/71) and made nine of 34 from downtown.

Both teams face Bishop's (3-5) next. Concordia (6-3) meets the men in mauve on Jan. 31. Meanwhile, McGill (8-4) will have an 11-day layoff to regroup before wrestling the Gaiters on February 6 at 8 p.m. They will conclude the regular season with games at Bishop's (Feb. 8), at Concordia (Feb. 15) and at home to UQAM (Feb. 20).

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