MONTREAL -- Sam Jenkins registered a double-double as McGill extended its record win streak to 14 en route to capturing the RSEQ men's university basketball championship with a 48-46 thriller over Concordia, Saturday.

It was the 12th men's title for McGill since the Quebec hoops league was formed in 1971-72 and the sixth crown over the past nine seasons but their first since 2018.

With the victory, the Redbirds punched their ticket to the U SPORTS Final 8 national championship in Edmonton, April 1-3. This marks the ninth lifetime appearance for McGill at the national tournament (excluding four regional tourneys) and the team's first since 2018. Their best result was a fourth-place finish in 1977, 2016 and 2018.

"It was the perfect ending to a perfect season," said an emotional Ryan Thorne, in his second year but first official season at the helm of the Redbirds after 17 years with the McGill women's program. "It was just a blessing to have gotten through this COVID season healthy. I lost two uncles and a father-in-law in 2021 so to be healthy at ths time was just amazing.... Just to be back playing basketball, a sport that we love and I have been involved in for so many years is a blessing. And to have the honour to have this group of guys and be a part of them is a blessing."

The game was declared a sell-out two days before tip-off -- a first in the storied school's history of athletics -- and a pandemic-restricted crowd of 612 attended the event at Love Competition Hall.

The combined tally of 94 points was the lowest-scoring final in Quebec men's league history -- with neither team reaching the 50-point plateau -- and the lowest points ever scored by McGill in any victory since the post-war era.

Jenkins, a 23-year-old physical education senior from Hamilton, Ont., converted a nifty pass from teammate Sidney Gauthier to give McGill a 48-44 lead with 63 seconds remaining in regulation time. Concordia reduced the cushion to two points when Olivier Cadieux made a reverse layup with 13.4 seconds left.

"Honestly, the undefeated record doesn't mean that much to us," said Jenkins, who scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.  "We just wanted to get out of the conference and get to play those three games next weekend," said Jenkins.

The 6-foot-3, 192-pound guard shot 7-for-17 from the field, including a 3-for-10 effort from three-point range, and went 2-for-7 at the free-throw line. He added four assists and a steal.

If McGill meets Queen's at the Nationals, the game would feature a matchup of brothers as Scott Jenkins, Sam's younger brother, is a sophomore guard with the Gaels, who have qualified as OUA silver medalists.

"Oh man, that's going to be bragging rights forever," hypothesized the elder Jenkins, who was on the wrong end of 71-64 decision against the Gaels on Oct. 16, 2021. "We already lost the first meeting against him so I really want the next one."

The Redbirds jumped into an impressive start, winning the opening quarter by a lopsided 17-5 margin. But Concordia bounced back to win the second period 16-9 as the teams went into the halftime break with a 26-21 advantage for the Redbirds. McGill took the third quarter 13-11 but the Stingers won the final frame 14-9.

"The key thing that I was worried about in the last minute was 'just don't give up the three and put yourself down'," confided Thorne, who will be making his 11th trip overall to the Nationals, including three as a player with Bishop's, seven as head coach of the McGill women's program. "I thought that we could have played out an overtime and would have been fine. The refs weren't calling any fouls so I wasn't concerned about that in an overtime."

Joining Jenkins in double-digits was Jamal Mayali, the league's scoring champion and player of the year, who was limited to 10 points and three rebounds. Teammate Quarry Whyne added nine points in just 20 minutes of court time.

"The biggest thing on our mind in the last few seconds (when Concordia had the ball) was getting a big stop," said Mayali. "Nothing else was in our heads but to make sure we secure the ball, (draw) a foul and make sure we make those free-throws at the other end. It went all the way down to the wire but that's what we needed to do in order to win and we were victorious... We've been in in these clutch situations many times this season and because of that, we stay calm and focussed."

"(That) was the biggest thing. A lot of times, the adversity and the pressure (can interfere), especially when we've got a big target on our backs the way we did going undefeated all season. So we had to stay calm, trust in one another, make sure that we believe in our coach and everything that we've been working on all year and be confident in it... This is just the first step. We've got nationals and we want to set the tone across the country. No one respects the RSEQ. We want to be out there and show everyone that we are the best."

Leading the way for Concordia was all-star forward Olivier Simon with a double-double of his own, scoring 14 points and 10 rebounds.But Simon missed a game-winning trey attempt at the buzzer after it was in-bounded with 1.4 seconds left.

The top two defences in the conference played havoc with the shooting game for both sides. McGill shot an uncharacteristically low 31.5 per cent from the field (17/54), 26.9 from downtown (7/26) and only 36.8 from the free-throw line (7/19). Concordia shot 30.5 (18/59), 20.0 (4/20) and 75 percent (6/8), respectively.

McGill, which will find out their tournament seeding and opening-round matchup at Nationals on Sunday, are slated to depart Tuesday for Edmonton. the Redbirds will enter the tourney with a 15-3 record overall, including preseason play and their team record 14-game win streak.

BOXSCORE


Quebec University Men's Basketball Champions since 1972
(RSEQ, QSSF/FQSE, QUAA)
 

SEASON	CHAMPIONS	QUEBEC RESULTS AT NATIONALS
Années	Champions	Résultats aux championnats canadiens
2021-22	McGill	McGill : (TBC)
2020-21 Saison annulée en raison de la Covid-19
2019-20	Bishop's	Bishop's : défaite en consolation
2018-19	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
2017-18	McGill	McGill : 4e place
2016-17	McGill	McGill : 4e place
2015-16	McGill	McGill : défaite en consolation
2014-15	Bishop's	Bishop's : défaite en consolation
2013-14	McGill	McGill : défaite en consolation
2012-13	McGill	McGill : 5e place
Dec-11	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
Nov-10	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
Oct-09	UQAM	UQAM : défaite en consolation
Sep-08	Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
Aug-07	Laval	Laval : 5e place
Jul-06	Concordia	Concordia : 5e place
Jun-05	UQAM	UQAM : défaite en consolation
May-04	Concordia	Concordia : 2e place
Apr-03	Laval	Laval : défaite en consolation
Mar-02	Laval	Laval : défaite en demi-finale
Feb-01	Laval	Laval : défaite en demi-finale
Jan-00	Laval	Laval : défaite en consolation
1999-00	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
1998-99	Bishop's	Bishop's : 6e place
1997-98	Bishop's	* Bishop's : 1re place
1996-97	Bishop's	Bishop's : 6e place
1995-96	Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
1994-95	Concordia	Concordia : 2e place
1993-94	Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
1992-93	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en demi-finale
1991-92	! Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
1990-91	! Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
1989-90	! Concordia	* Concordia : 1re place
1988-89	! Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
1987-88	Bishop's	Bishop's : défaite en consolation
1986-87	Concordia	Concordia : défaite en consolation
1985-86	McGill	-
1984-85	McGill	-
1983-84	McGill	-
1982-83	Concordia	-
1981-82	Concordia	Concordia : 4e place
1980-81	Concordia	Concordia : 3e place
1979-80	Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
1978-79	McGill	McGill : défaite en consolation
1977-78	Bishop's	Bishop's : défaite en consolation
1976-77	McGill	McGill : 4e place
1975-76	Concordia	Concordia : 6e place
1974-75	Loyola College	Loyola College : défaite en consolation / Sir George Williams : 6e place
1973-74	Sir George Williams	Sir George Williams : 4e place
1972-73	Loyola College	Loyola College : 4e place
* : Titre canadien
! : Titre de la section Est à l'intérieur de l'OUAA

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