Men’s Basketball: Hell of a Game

Concordia Beats No. 4 Nationally Ranked McGill in Double Overtime

SportsYacine Bouhali — Published January 23, 2016 | Updated January 23, 2016 at 6:04pm

“Mentally and physically it was a tough game, but we stuck to the game plan and we did what we had to do,” said Stingers guard Ricardo Monge who scored 28 points in the victory. “I knew we had to control the pace, I wanted to have the ball in my hands and make the best shots for my team.”

While Monge and the Stingers made shots when they were truly needed, the Redmen also replied with scores of their own.

Concordia led by nine points with under 90 seconds to play and were on the way to their third straight victory in the last week—but McGill’s Jenning Leung had other plans. The Redmen rallied before the McGill guard hit a game-tying three point shot with 3.3 seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime.

After a tightly disputed first overtime period where both teams scored six points, Concordia took control of the game, outscoring their rivals 20-8 in the second overtime.

Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic was extremely happy with his players as they exacted revenge on a team that beat them by 22 points this past November.

“I am so proud of the way the guys competed, the way they showed pride and passion, we had every reasons to give up today but our guys just stuck with it,” said Popovic. “We’re a young team and these are the games that makes us grow, as individuals and as a team together, knowing that we can beat the number four team in the country, knowing that for the most part of the game I thought we were the better team today.”

Popovic was also pleased with the way his sophomore guard Garry Merisier played during the game, especially in overtime as he scored nine of his 19 points in the second overtime period.

“It was by far Garry’s best game in his university career,” Popovic said.

Not to be forgotten was the play of Concordia’s Ken Beaulieu who amassed a team high seven rebounds and 21 points.

The Stingers will be facing off against the Redmen again this coming Saturday, at McGill. Tip-off is at 3 p.m.