MONTREAL -- Jamal Mayali scored a game-high 26 points as McGill outlasted visiting Laval 98-92 in a men's basketball thriller at Love Competition Hall, Wednesday. The 92 points allowed was the most in a McGill victory since a 98-95 triple overtime win over UNB on Dec. 29, 2011. 

The result was team's 13th win in 14 confrontations against Laval and improved McGill's record to 6-1 atop the RSEQ standings, four points ahead of second-place Concordia (4-1), which holds two games in hand. Laval, still searching for their first victory, dropped to 0-6.

In a game that featured eight leads changes, McGill led 24-16 after the opening quarter but Laval fought back to stun the home team 31-20 in the second stanza and took a 47-44 advantage into halftime. Both teams tallied 27 points in the third and Laval narrowed the gap to one with less than five minutes remaining in the final quarter but McGill found their sea-legs and went on a 16-9 run down the stretch, sparked by back-to-back treys from junior Sami Al Uariachi, a native of Morocco, who finished with a single-game career-best 13 points.

"Man these guys (Laval) came in here tonight and gave us their best shot," said bench boss David DeAveiro, who improved his career coaching record to 403-260 overall, including a 193-132 record at McGill. "They punched us in the face. It was like a boxing match. They kept hitting us and hitting us but we refused to go down. It was like there were a couple of standing eight counts... Down the stretch, when we needed stops the most, we got them. So we just dug in and played through it. I told our guys (after the game) that we took everything that they could throw at us tonight and came out with a win. I was really proud of them."

Mayali, a 6-foot-4 guard from Toronto, shot 7-for-11 from the field and was a perfect 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. The 21-year-old political science junior also collected six rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists in 31 minutes of court time. He was one of five McGillians to reach double digits in scoring, along with Quarry Whyne (18), Sam Jenkins (17 pts, 9 rbs), Sami Al Uariachi (13) and Levi Londole (11).

Four Laval players also tallied in double figures, led by Sidney Tremblay-Lacombe and Vladimir Thomas, with 27 and 25 points, respectively. Steeve Joseph came off the bench to score 15 and starter Samuel Bouchard added 10.

McGill had a key 34-22 edge in rebounding and a single-game season-high 14 steals. But Laval held a 21-17 advantage in turnovers and counter-punched until the final buzzer. McGill shot a stellar 53.1 per cent from the field (34/64), went 3-for-12 from three-point range and drained 27 of 35 attempts from the charity stripe. Laval shot an impressive 50.7 per cent from the floor (35/69), went 10-for-28 from downtown and made 12 of 17 freebies.

"You've got to search as a coach to find the right things that work," added DeAveiro. "You try a whole bunch of things throughout the game. maybe try a combination of guys or a defence that works. Down the stretch we kind of figured it out but it was almost too late... It was a physical, chippy game. Guys were getting after it, they were competing. Probably a little trash-talking going on the floor. It was like a playoff atmosphere, a good game for us to play... Laval's not an 0-6 team and they showed it tonight, They have a lot of heart and character and they competed so well. You can't take any game for granted in this league."

The bitter rivals will have one day to recover before a return confrontation in Quebec City on Friday night at the Centre PEPS. Tip-off is 8 p.m. and don't be surprised if another boxing match breaks out. The game will be streamed live on the Laval Facebook page.

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STANDINGS & STATS