Men’s Basketball Opens Tournament with Dominant Performance

Stingers Win Over Regina to Open the Concordia Classic

SportsVictor Depois — Published October 6, 2018

The Stingers started off strong in the first quarter, beating Regina from behind the three point line. Fourth-year player Adrian Armstrong scored back-to-back threes in the first two minutes of the game. Armstrong also guarded the basket, making an imposing block on a counter-attack by Regina. He ended the quarter scoring three out of five attempts.

The Stingers led by ten points at the end of the first quarter, 26-16.

Unwilling to give their opponents a break, they continued what they had started at the beginning of the second quarter. Second-year guard Anthony Sanogo flew to Regina’s basket to score an impressive dunk almost immediately after the break. Regina was suffocating.

This seemed to wake the visitors from the rust left over after their five-hour flight. They pressured the Stingers high on the court, forcing turnovers. The luck seemed to have changed sides by the middle of the second quarter. Brayden Kuski scored a three for Regina, getting his team back on track. They came back within six points of the Stingers, who nevertheless kept going

“Coach Popovic always comes with a great game plan. If everything goes wrong, just follow the game plan,” said Armstrong. That’s what the Stingers did.

The quarter ended with a deep three-point shot from Sanogo to make it 40-31 at halftime.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Regina came back within five points, harassing their opponents from the moment the ball went in. First-year Tariq Hamad from Concordia had trouble “controlling the game” the way his coach would have liked. He had three turnovers.

Armstrong had two other threes in the quarter, casting away his second quarter doubts. At the end of a tight quarter, second-year player Michel Hakizimana was fouled at the buzzer. He missed the first free-throw but scored the second.

Concordia led by 17 points at the end of the third quarter. The issue seemed sealed.

Regina started the fourth quarter strong, scoring seven points within the first couple of minutes. That was the moment chosen by Concordia’s first-year forward Samuel Lessard to come out of his box. He drove the ball to the basket and had four points within 30 seconds. Kuski scored his second three of the game a minute before the buzzer.

Regina’s head coach Steve Burrows expected a tough game, but did not expect his team to miss so many shots.

“We shot 20 per cent from the three point line, and 45 per cent from the free-throw line. It’s not going to win you a lot of basketball games,” he said.

Rastko Popovic, Concordia’s head coach, was satisfied with his team’s performance, but urged his players to stay composed under pressure.

“We were missing three starters, and we still won by 20 points. That shows the depth of our team,” he said.

He did not appreciate Regina’s comebacks, and emphasized the long road ahead of the Stingers for them to reach a top-national level.

“If we want to be one of the top-ten teams of the country, we’ve got to execute for 40 minutes,” he said.

In this intense tournament weekend, his team will have few hours to rest before focusing on their next opponent.

“We have to stay hungry. Tonight’s game is over once you go to sleep, and tomorrow you can get ready for the next game,” he said.

The Stingers will face Acadia in their second game of the Concordia Classic at 6 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 6.