MONTREAL – Haris Elezovic scored 28 points en route to a double-double and teammate Samuel Chaput added 25 but it was insufficient as McGill let another large lead slip away and fell 72-71 to upstart UQAM in men's basketball at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.
 
The Citadins erased a staggering 22-point deficit to defeat McGill, two days after overcoming an 18-point deficit to edge the Redbirds 77-75 on a buzzer beater.

"We're the same undisciplined team that we were in Thursday's game and (UQAM is the) same athletic team," said a disappointed McGill head coach Ryan Thorne, explaining how a team can be up by so many points in one half and then find themselves at the complete opposite end of the spectrum in the second half. "Right now we're not a team working together all the time. When things are going well, we're working together. When things start to (unravel), we start playing individually on both ends of the ball, offensively and defensively. We're not there in our rotations and in our help (i.e. positional support)."

McGill won the opening quarter 19-16, then completely manhandled the Citadins 23-4 in the second stanza to take what appeared to be an insurmountable lead into halftime. But the visitors came back from the dead, once again, winning the third quarter 31-17 and the final period 21-12. UQAM grabbed the lead with 3:27 remaining in the game when Alix Lochard hit a trey to put the Citadins ahead 68-67 and they held the margin down the stretch run. The only other time that UQAM had led prior to that was after the game's opening basket.

McGill had a chance for a last-second win but senior Kevin Li missed a 22-foot corner jumper at the buzzer.

"The only positive thing that we can take from this is that we know we can play well for 20 minutes," Thorne said. "But we haven't found out yet a way to play 40 minutes well... I don't know how it happens but it keeps happening. So I've got to figure out how to stop it from happening again."

UQAM had three players in double digit scoring, led by Kevin Civil (18), Bahaide Haidara (15) and the aforementioned Lochard (14).

Elezovic, who collected a game-high 13 rebounds, registered his eighth double-double in 18 games overall. He shot 11-for-18 and went an impressive 6-for-7 from the charity stripe. He added two steals and a pair of assists in 32 minutes of court time.

Chaput, who logged a team-high 35 minutes, was 8-for-12 shooting, including a 4-for-6 performance from downtown. He was 5-for-6 from the line and was credited with three rebounds, three dimes and a pair of steals.

After the dynamic duo, there was a big drop-off in scoring for McGill, with Ibrahim Gosselin-Diawara netting six, followed by Cameron Elliot (5),  Kevin Li (4), Zachary Lavoie-Toure (2) and senior Sam Jenkins, who was held to only one point in his second game back after missing four games with a lower-body injury. Jenkins led the team in scoring over the first semester, averaging close to 18 points per game.

One of the quirkier stats in the boxscore had the Redbirds, despite losing, with more successful free-throws (18/22), than UQAM had attempts from the foul-line (9/16).

McGill had a 39.3 per cent success rate in field-goal shooting (24/61), draining five of 23 attempts from downtown. This Citadins were more efficient, connecting on 45 per cent (27/60), with a 9-for-29 response from beyond the arc.

Most of the other key stats were almost identical, with UQAM holding a slight edge in rebounding (32-31) and blocks (2-0). The teams were deadlocked in both steals (9-9) and turnovers (20-20).

UQAM, which improved to 6-2, has now won all three meetings with the defending champion Redbirds (2-6) this season and the cross-town rivals have one confrontation remaining, the season finale on Feb. 25.

With eight games left on the schedule, McGill now finds itself tied with Bishop's (2-5) for the final playoff berth in the five-team RSEQ conference but the Gaiters have a game in hand. These two foes will meet each other twice in early February.

After eight contests, UQAM has scored 615 points for and allowed 562 points against for a differential of +53. The Citadins are currently the only team with a positive point-differential in the topsy-turvy Quebec league. McGill ranks second (-9), followed by Laval (-14), Bishop's (-15) and Concordia (-15).

McGill will now turn their focus to a home-and-home series with third-place Laval (5-4). The Rouge et Or will visit Love Competition Hall on Thursday (Jan. 19). Two days later, the provincial rivals will meet again in Quebec City. Both games are slated for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

The division-leading Citadins now enter a bye in their schedule and will return to the court on Jan. 26 when they play host to second-place Concordia (5-3).

REDBIRDS RAP: The four points scored by UQAM in the second quarter established a McGill modern-day record for the lowest offensive output in a quarter by an opponent. It broke the previous mark of five, which has happened on five occasions. The most recent occurrence was in the 2022 RSEQ league championship game last spring when McGill outscored Concordia 17-5 in the first quarter (M-26-22)... The other instances included a 16-5 fourth quarter at Laval (F-23-17), a 20-5 second quarter against Bishop's (F-27-16), a 24-5 first quarter against UQAM (J-19-13) and a 19-5 fourth quarter at UQAM (Feb-25-12).

BOXSCORE

STANDINGS & STATS

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