MONTREAL -- Sam Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., registered game highs with 19 points and nine rebounds as the McGill University men's basketball squad resumed play with a convincing 84-62 victory over visiting UQAM at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.

It was McGill's first game since Nov. 26, after an 11-week layoff for exams, holidays and pandemic restrictions but the team looked to be in mid-season form as they extended their perfect record to 5-0 in the RSEQ conference, while UQAM dropped to 2-3. Its the best start to a season for McGill since winning their first five in 2015-16.

"It was great to get back to it... just seeing the other guys… the competition… the other coaches," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "Just the fact that were back in the gym. We missed it for 18 months, then briefly got it (back in the fall semester) and we were afraid that we would (lose it again). It was nice to get out there. It's more about the competition than the result. So I was happy that we got everyone into the game."

The Redbirds led 21-17 after the first quarter and took a 38-30 lead into halftime but grabbed control in the third quarter, outscoring UQAM by an eye-popping 30-13 margin to take a commanding 68-43 advantage into the final stanza. The 30-point outburst was the team's highest offensive total in a quarter since Nov. 23, 2019, when 31 was tallied in the final stanza of a 90-77 home court victory over Concordia, a span of 19 league and playoff games.

Jenkins, a 6-foot-3, 192-pound guard, shot an impressive 6-for-13 from the floor, including a spectacular 5-for-6 effort from three-point range. The fifth-year physical education senior also went 2-for-3 from the free-throw line. He equaled a career-high in assists with seven and played a team-high 32 minutes of court time.

Teammate Jamal Mayali, a senior from Toronto, contributed 16 points and four rebounds. Quarry Whyne of Montreal -- who finally returned from a preseason injury suffered against Carleton on Oct. 23 -- had 14 points off the bench. Sophomore centre Haris Elezovic, a native of Sherbrooke, Que., added 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, to go along with eight boards, one steal and an assist. Starting guard Cameron Elliot, a junior from Ottawa, contributed nine points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal but appeared to suffer a leg injury and was limited to 28 minutes.

Pacing the Citadins was Mofadden Jean, Karim Sabban and Alix Lochard, with 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Redbirds had a huge 42-30 edge in rebounding and won the turnover battle 20-14. The only statistical edge for UQAM was slight, with a 9-7 margin in steals and a 2-1 difference in blocked shots.

McGill shot 43.8 per cent from the field (32-of-73), went 12-for-30 from beyond the arc and drained eight of 13 from the line.

"The difference was in shot quality," noted Thorne. "Sure we can take a lot of threes and early in the season we did that but not a lot of good ones. If we work together and get better shot quality, then the threes are more effective and that's what I saw down the stretch, especially in the second half. Getting an open three… is a much better shot than the forced one that some (players) will take."

UQAM shot a sub-par 36.4 per cent from the floor (20 of 55), went 10-for-25 from downtown and 12-for-21 from the charity stripe.

The two teams will tango again for a final time on Saturday in the back end of their home-and-home confrontation this week. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Centre Sportive de l'UQAM, following the women's game. McGill has now won the first two meetings and a win on Saturday would give them a season-shortened series sweep over the Citadins for the first time since 2017-18, when McGill posted a 4-0 record.

"The most important thing is, anytime you're playing on the road, you want to rebound, get to the free-throw line and get quality shots," Thorne said. "If I think back to the first time we played (at UQAM this season), we built up a big lead early in the game and then we started taking poor shots. That team is good enough to get you running (around) and they are able to score easy buckets to turn that score back in a (flash). Today we had a 25-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter and I still didn't think that was a safe lead because of how quickly that team can score. That's gotta be the key. Make sure that we control the transition offence, take care of the rebounds and for us offensively, get to the free-throw line."

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
TEL: 514-398-7012
EMAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca