MONTREAL – Jaheem Joseph scored a game-high 22 points and Junior Mercy added 14 as visiting Concordia came away with a 76-54 decision over McGill in men's university basketball at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.
 
The game featured another matchup of the Phaneuf brothers from Gatineau, Que., with both wearing jersey No. 4. Alec Phaneuf, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound guard with the Stingers, scored four points and pulled down six rebounds in 26 minutes of court time. Matt Phaneuf, his younger sibling who wore No. 10 last year, is a 5-foot-8, 164-pound point-guard with the Redbirds. He played 11 minutes and was kept off the scoresheet. Matt, an international development studies sophomore, and Alec, a sociology senior, have now crossed paths six times over the last two years, with the elder winning five of the meetings.
 
It was Concordia's second consecutive conquest over the Redbirds this season and the first for interim head coach Aleksandar Mitrovic, a McGill grad who played for his alma mater from 2011 to 2013 while earning a master's degree. He was filling in for bench boss Rastko Popovic, who is on leave this semester.
 
The Stingers, who had a 45-28 edge in rebounding, led 15-13 after the first quarter, 34-27 at halftime and 53-40 after three. The shot an impressive 28-for-34 from the free-throw line, compared to McGill, which was 17-for-26.
 
Georges Lefebvre paced the Redbirds with 14 points and despite being the team's leading rebounder this season, he was held to nothing under the glass for the first time this season. Sean Herscovitch had 10 and Luis Micourt contributed eight points along with five rebounds and three steals.
 
McGill committed 19 turnovers that resulted in 32 points for the Stingers. The visitors had 15 turnovers that led to a dozen points against. Concordia shot 35.6 per cent from the floor (21/59 and went 6-for-20 from the three-point arc. The Redbirds connected on 35.6 per cent from the field (16/45) and went 5-for-15 from the arc.
 
The Stingers improved to 6-1 in the RSEQ conference to keep pace with Bishop's (6-1) for the division lead. McGill dropped to 2-6 and is tied with Laval (2-5) for the fourth and final playoff berth. The Rouge et Or finished fourth last season with a 6-10 record, but qualified for the U SPORTS Final Eight, then pulled off three stunning upsets to capture the national championship.
 
McGill dropped to 66-126 lifetime against Concordia since the Stingers program was founded in 1974-75. The cross-town rivals will meet for the third time in regular season play on Saturday (Jan. 18) in a 4 p.m. tip-off at John Dore Court on the Loyola campus. They will also cross paths on Feb. 20 in the sixth annual George Lengvari Cup rivalry game.
 
BOXSCORE
 
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
 
U SPORTS STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics and Recreation
(514) 983- 7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.mcgillathletics.ca