MONTREAL – Three players scored in double digits as McGill surprised Laval, the defending national champions, 67-50 to open the RSEQ men's basketball season at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.
 
It kicked off the 123rd year for the McGill men's hoops program, a day after the anniversary of James Naismith, one of the University's most renown graduates, who was born on Nov. 6, 1861 and invented the game in 1891.

The Rouge et Or are coming off a bizarre campaign in 2023-24, where they finished fourth in the RSEQ standings with a 6-10 record, then lost the conference semifinal 77-67 to first-place Concordia. They qualified for Nationals as host team, were seeded eighth and promptly swept all three games to win their first-ever national banner.
 
After an early 10-2 run for the Redbirds, they held a 14-12 advantage after the opening quarter but the teams were deadlocked at 28-28 at halftime. The second half was a different ball game. McGill came out firing to take the third quarter 21-10 and then coasted 18-12 down the stretch.
 
Georges Lefebvre paced the Redbirds with 16 points and eight rebounds. He added three assists, a pair of blocks and one steal in a team-high 29 minutes of court time.
 
Teammate Alexis Messier contributed a dozen points, on the strength of a 4-for-8 performance from three-point range. Alexandre Reinert-Woodfine added 10 points and Saransh Padhy had nine.
 
Leading the way for Laval was Jayden Larosiliere with a game-high 21 points.
 
The Redbirds had an impressive 42-29 edge in rebounding and both teams committed 16 turnovers. McGill shot 43.1 per cent from the field (25/58), drained seven of 26 treys and shot a stellar 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. The Rouge et Or connected on only 37 per cent from the floor (20/54), went 8-for-24 from the arc and 2-for-9 from the line.
 
Both teams resume their schedules on Saturday, (Nov. 9) with Concordia visiting McGill in a 6 p.m. tipoff, while Laval will host UQAM at 8 p.m. Fans are to be advised that parking around the Sir Arthur Currie Gym on Saturday will be extremely difficult as the Montreal Alouettes will be hosting the CFL Eastern Semifinal at 3 p.m. It is strongly reccommended that public transportation be used.as the McGill Metro stop is less than a 10-minute walk up University Avenue.
 
BOXSCORE
 
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca