Championship Dreams Dashed in Quarters

Concordia Lose First Game in Nationals, Can’t Make Finals

SportsDavid Murphy — Published March 9, 2012

Concordia’s national championship dreams were crushed minutes into the CIS quarter finals as the St. Francis Xavier Xmen, ranked sixth in the tournament, outplayed the Stingers, ranked third, from tip-off to final buzzer.

The game finished 98-82 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Nova Scotia on March 9.

Concordia just couldn’t keep hold of the ball and were cold when shooting it, with X-Men MVP Thomas Terry taking advantage of their misplays, scoring a game-high 39-points.

“He’s only second year, but he’s a fantastic athlete,” said coach John Dore of his play today.

The Stingers were outrun and outgunned early on in the game as St. Francis Xavier screamed to a 17-point lead after the first.

Concordia coming out flat on offense and not being able to keep up to the X-Men’s tempo basically set the tone for the game.

“We didn’t stop them in the first five minutes, after that we outscored them,” said Dore. “I think we were outworked, they were faster up and down the court, they were more intense, and we were outplayed.”

“When u give up 23 points in three minutes, it’s hard to come back from that.”

St. Francis Xavier used their two all-stars, guard Terry Thomas and forward Jeremy Dunn, to send a message to the Stingers with two massive dunks in the first and second quarter.

The Stingers did muster a half-hearted comeback late in the first but started the second like they did in the previous period, turning over the ball and missing shots early and often.

The lead was cut slightly to 18 going into recess and slimmed even more early in the third to a 15-point deficit, but the same themes came to haunt the Stingers during the quarter and the Xmen went back up to 21.

Stingers James Clark and Zach Brisebois, who put up 10 and 12 points respectively, tried to force a comeback in the third but Terry put a stop to that, forcing more turnovers and hitting almost every shot attempted.

Even though the Stingers will not win the national championship, they still have a shot at winning fourth place in the country.

Next up for Concordia is Ryerson in the consolation final bracket. They play at 2:15 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time, 1:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If Concordia win that, they play Sunday in the consolation final at 11:00 AST, 10:00 EST