Stingers 77, Citadins 70: Concordia advances to RSEQ final
Concordia men’s basketball squad narrowly beats UQAM at home
The Concordia University Stingers men’s basketball team took down the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at John Dore Court. The 7 p.m. tip-off sounded off a 40-minute long dog fight separated by referee whistles and end-of-quarter buzzers.
“Playoff basketball is a different animal. It’s not about what happens during the regular season,” lead assistant coach Aleks Mitrovic said. “Everybody’s ready to play. Especially a team like UQAM. They’re the defending league champs.”
The Stingers, who went 4-0 against UQAM in the season series, now advance to the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final. This fifth and final win marks the end of a triumphant year for the team, who fell short on their home floor against the Citadins in the 2024 RSEQ finals, 63-57.
Before the game, regular season awards were handed out. Johan Leger and Miguel Doyon-Jeremy were both named to All-Rookie teams. Furthermore, the Stingers men’s basketball team has three all-stars this year; Alec Phaneuf and Junior Mercy were both named to the All-Star second team, and Jaheem Joseph received first team All-Star honours.
Once the game got underway, every minute was tense. Between six lead changes, 10 ties and no lead larger than seven points, the game was anybody’s to claim until the very end.
“Playoff basketball gets hectic,” Stingers guard Alec Phaneuf said. “But at least I think now we’re ready, for what it is to play in the playoffs, to play in a crazy environment.”
The Stingers played great man-to-man defence and got good looks on offence, but couldn’t connect on easy set-ups in the first half. Meanwhile, UQAM was playing in a more physically aggressive manner, using their weight and size to trample the interior defence and grab every rebound they could. That aptitude wasn’t transferring to the offensive end, however, leaving the Stingers ahead by four points going into halftime.
The Citadins heavily relied on centre Karl-Tommy Laforest to generate offence, possibly to a fault. He finished with 33 points, eight rebounds, and a total of 15 free throws attempted. While Laforest played great, he was no match for the Stingers, who had four players amass double digit points, and outscored the UQAM bench 21-5.
As the game continued into the second half, both teams ramped up the intensity. Fouls felt like a dime-a-dozen, with loose balls aplenty, and rip throughs were, well, ripped through. A brief scuffle broke out when Phaneuf was pushed to the hardwood, until Stingers guard Junior Mercy stepped in to split it up.
“You have to be there for your boys, of course, but these are guys we basically grew up with,” Mercy said. “So going into it you have to protect your guys, but then, you know it’s not gonna be a real scuffle.”
At the end of the game, the Stingers held a two-possession lead and knew to slow down the game. The Citadins got nervous, and consequently sloppy, making a slew of bad late-game decisions to seal the game.
“You know what, at the end, when it was time to step up I think our guys did a great job,” Mitrovic said. “I really hope that our guys learned from playing a veteran team like UQAM today. In matching that physicality and matching playoff-style basketball.”
Now, the Concordia Stingers are set to play the Bishop’s University Gaiters in the RSEQ men’s basketball finals. Both teams entered the playoffs with regular season records of 14-2. The final will take place at Bishop’s Mitchell Gym on Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
