Concordia 82, UQAM 66: Stingers Get Hot From Behind the Arch

Offensive Explosion Sends Stingers Men’s Basketball To Winter Break on Good Note

SportsElaine Genest — Published November 26, 2017

The team began their warm up and took turns running in circles shooting non-stop net, hyping up what was about to go down.

That inspired shootaround translated well into the game. Of Concordia’s 82 points, 45 of them came on three-pointers. Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic was a fan of his team’s prowess from behind the arch as he played the hot hand and gave guard Adrian Armstrong a game-high 29 minutes off the bench. Armstrong scored four three-pointers in the game en route to a 16-point game.

“My teammates always give me lots of encouragement, telling me to shoot the ball,” said Armstrong. “When the other team falls deep and leaves me open, gives me a chance to get the shots off and knock them down.”

Although the team was weak defensively, the offence made sure every point that was scored by the Université du Québec À Montréal Citadins was going to be responded by a three-pointer. As a team, the Stingers went five-for-seven from behind the arch, giving them 22-11 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The second frame was no different. The Stingers kept their hot shooting up and extended their lead to 17 points heading into the half.

By the fourth quarter, Concordia had let their foot off the gas and allowed the Citadins to slowly creep their way back into the game.

“Our defence was pretty good until the fourth quarter, but we shouldn’t have let them gain that confidence,” said Stingers forward Sami Ghandour.

But it was too little too late for the Citadins as the Stingers were able to preserve a 16-point lead.

Popovic was happy with his team’s offence but hopes to see better communication on defense.

Forward Schneiders Suffrard had the game-high in points with 19, along with five rebounds and two assists. Ghandour backed up his nine point, four rebound performance a week ago against McGill with 12 points and eight rebounds against the Citadins.

Concordia’s record improves to 3-1 in regular season play, tied for first in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec rankings with the Université Laval Rouge et Or and McGill.

The win marked the last regular season game the Stingers would play in 2017. They’ll head east to Dalhousie University to play a tournament hosted on their campus. Their first game in the tournament will be on Dec. 29 against the Saint-Mary’s Huskies.