MONTREAL -- T.J. Hurley of Pelham, Ont., came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, hitting five treys as the visiting University of Vermont Catamounts outlasted McGill 70-61 in men's basketball preseason play at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.

UVM, an NCAA Div. 1 program based in Burlington, Vt., held a slim 62-59 lead with 2:20 left in the game but out-pointed McGill 8-2 down the stretch. 

"We didn't do enough to win, that's it," said a disappointed Ryan Thorne, head coach of the Redbirds, who felt that his troops let this one get away. "Didn't battle enough, scramble enough, fight enough, jump on enough rebounds and didn't box out enough to win. That's the end of the story."

Senior Kevin Li, a native of Beijing, paced the Redbirds for the second straight game with 14 points to go along with five rebounds. He shot 5-for-10 from the floor, including a 4-for-6 effort from the arc.

Haris Elezovic, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound junior from Sherbrooke, Que., registered his second consecutive double-double for McGill while wearing different coloured sneakers -- one blue, one yellow. He tallied a dozen points and 11 rebounds in this outing, after scoring 17 with 11 boards against Florida State on Wednesday.

Cameron Elliot, a senior guard from Ottawa, had another solid performance for McGill with nine points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists. Despite a tepid 1-for-11 shooting pace from the floor, he went 6-for-6 from the line.

Joining Hurley in double digits were Vermont teammates Aaron Deloney (12) of Portland, Ore., and Dylan Penn (10), a senior from Evansville, Ind.

Vermont took the opening quarter 15-8 and McGill rallied to grab a 26-23 advantage by halftime but appeared to run out of steam in the second half. The visitors took the third quarter 17-12 and then out-pointed the host Redbirds 30-23 in the final stanza.

Vermont's shooting was a big factor, especially from three-point range, as they nailed eight treys in the last quarter to pull away from McGill. The Catamounts connected on 44.8 per cent of their shots (26/58), including 11-for-31 from the arc. They were 7-for-10 from the foul line.

McGill's shooting was not as sharp, converting only 32.8 per cent from the floor (19/58), with a 10-for-30 effort from downtown. The Redbirds did look good from the charity stripe, however, draining 13 of 14 freebies. That was a big improvement from their soft 6-for-14 performance against Florida State three days earlier.

The Catamounts had a slight 35-34 advantage in rebounding and committed 13 turnovers, compared to McGill's 14.

Thorne did point out some improvements compared to the team's performance against Florida State.

"We were much better from the line today and that's definitely a positive, so I was happy about that," he said. "Also, our rotations were better to a certain level but it's the completions that needed improvement, playing to the end of the shot clock. Today we improved to 'level 2' of our rotations, now we've got to get to levels 3 and 4 for us to be successful."

The result was the second straight win in Canada for Vermont (2-0), which defeated Concordia 76-71 on Friday. UVM will conclude their three-game cross-border excursion on Sunday when they meet the UQAM Citadins in a 2 p.m. tip-off.

The Catamounts, who are coming off a 28-6 overall record last season, improved to 25-4 in 29 lifetime meetings with McGill, which dropped to 3-5 at home against Vermont.

The Redbirds (0-2) will now focus on their next NCAA matchup, on Sunday, Aug. 21, when the visiting University of Oregon Ducks will be in town for a 4 p.m. tip-off. Tickets are $15 and only available online.

The Ducks posted a 20-15 overall record last year,  with an 11-9 mark in the Pac-12 conference. They will play five games in Canada, including Ottawa (Aug. 22), Carleton (Aug. 23), McMaster (Aug. 25) and Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson) on Aug. 26.

BOXSCORE

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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca