LENNOXVILLE, QUE  -- Levi Londole registered a "double-double" and Jamal Mayali matched his offensive output with 19 points as division-leading McGill came away with a hard-fought 73-68 road victory over Bishop's, Saturday at the Mitchell gym.
 
The victory ensured that McGill stayed atop the RSEQ standings at 10-4 while the fourth-place Gaiters fell to 5-8.

Londole scored his 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting with a perfect 3-for-3 effort from the foul-line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds to along with one blocked shot, a steal and a pair of assists.

"Levi's doing all the little things needed to be successful," said bench boss David DeAveiro, who improved his record to 407-263 in 670 career games over his 19 years at the U SPORTS level, including a 197-136 mark in 10 seasons at McGill.  "Learning how to play without the ball, finishing strong around the basket and all the hard work he's put in, in terms of his individual post moves, which are paying off for him."

Mayali was 7-for-13 from the floor, including a 4-for-9 effort from downtown. He went 1-for 2 at the line and added one rebound, two assists and a pair of steals.
 
The lead changed hands eight times. McGill, which led 22-20 after the first quarter, took a 40-34 advantage into halftime and outscored the Gaiters 18-13 in the third. The visitors extended their advantage to 15 points with just under six minutes to play in the game but the Gaiters refused to give up, egged on by a boisterous crowd.  Their late run cut the lead to just four with 33 seconds remaining but the Gaiters were unable to get within a possession and McGill held on for the win.

"We played well for 38 minutes but then it looked liked we tried to give away the game in the last two minutes," DeAveiro explained. "We moved the ball well, had 18 assists and 12 steals. We did a lot of good things. One thing that I didn't like was that we had 19 turnovers, although some of that was fatigue towards the end. We tried to make some home-run plays, high-risk decisions but we can clean those up. Overall it was a great road win for us in a hostile place to play, so anytime we can come away from Bishop's with a win, it's a good result."

Bishop's bench outscored McGill's subs 36-13, primarily because rookie Cameron Elliott played 39 of the 40 minutes for McGill and three other starters played 30 minutes or more.
 
Nervens Demosthene scored a game-high 21 points in a losing cause for the Gaiters. He also added four rebounds, four assists and a steal. Yassin Naji and Jordan Thornhill were the only other Bishop's players to get to double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

BU had a 45-36 edge in rebounds, while McGill held a 12-9 margin in steals. Both sides committed 19 turnovers.

McGill shot a healthy 42.2 per cent (27/64) from the floor, made six of 25 treys and registered an impressive 13-for-16 effort from the charity stripe. The Gaiters shot 34.3 per cent (24/70), with a feeble 4-for-27 effort from long-range and went 16-for-20 from the line.

With three games remaining, Bishop's magic number is one to clinch a playoff berth ahead of Laval (2-11). The Rouge et Or, who have beaten BU twice, must win their three remaining contests, while hoping for BU to lose all three of theirs. The Gaiters host the Rouge et Or on Thursday where a Bishop's victory will punch their ticket to the post-season.

McGill (10-4) has two games remaining and can clinch first place with a win at Concordia (9-4) on Saturday, Feb. 15 in the second annual George Lengvari Cup rivalry game. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. at the John Dore Court. The Stingers have won two of the three confrontations this season but McGill has outscored them 240-234 in head-to-head-play. McGill has finished atop the Quebec league standings in six of the last seven years, with the Stingers interrupting that streak last season. That run of six straight regular season pennants for McGill was preceded by an 11-year drought after winning the division in 2000-01.

This won't be a typical men's and women's doubleheader as the cross-town rivals had previously split venues for an early season matchup in the fall. So this time around, the women's game will be played at McGill at 2 p.m.

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