Men’s Basketball: Stingers Defeat Florida A&M in Preseason Game

Coach Rastko Popovic Gets Ejected In Preseason Win at Vanier College

SportsSamuel Boafo — Published August 18, 2016

Dosado lead his team with 28 points and four assists to give the Stingers’ men’s basketball team their second preseason win against NCAA Division One schools this summer.

“I think we had a sluggish start being down 14-5,” said Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic. “We struggled offensively and we had a different starting five with new starters compared to the other two games because we wanted to switch things up.”

With 1:05 left in the third quarter, Popovic got ejected from the game for words exchanged with the referee.

“It’s basketball,” Popovic said. “The referee decided to throw me out on one technical and I really don’t want to discuss what was said I thought it was very unprofessional but I kept my cool because you know what? This is about my team.”

The game started slowly for the Stingers, but the hosts were able to tie the game 16-16 at the end of the first quarter.

“We came out with the energy but I think we were careless with the basketball,” said Florida A&M coach Byron Samuels. “I think we had 12 to 13 turnovers in the first half we tried to do too much too quick.”

Rattlers guard Marcus Barham scored nine points from the three point range in the first half, keeping a tight one-point score difference.

After the half, the game continued to be a close affair. Despite Popovic’s ejection, the Stingers kept their composure to finish off the game.

“I’m really happy because we had a challenge of [our coach] leaving and for a lot of teams they can’t adjust to that,” Dosado said.

The game came down to the last few seconds with the Stingers holding a slim 70-68 lead with 14.5 seconds left and the Rattlers having the last possession.

Concordia managed to see out the play through to seal the victory.

The Stingers’ next preseason game is against another NCAA division one school, St Thomas Aquinas College, on Sept. 1.