Stingers 80, Citadins 69: Concordia extends streak to eight straight

The Concordia University Stingers men’s basketball team fends off gritty UQAM squad

Stingers guard Yohan Leger attempts a jump shot. Photo Prabin Singh Sandiwal

The Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team fought off the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, 80-69, on Thursday, Jan. 30 at John Dore Court. Despite a double-digit win, it was a very close game until the Stingers managed to build a lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Citadins came out of the gate extremely aggressive. They picked up their fifth personal foul by the six-minute mark of the first quarter, putting the Stingers in the bonus. However, UQAM led by one after the first quarter. 

“We know that UQAM’s a very good team, a very physical team,” Stingers guard Emmanuel Duprate said. “So the focus today is to punch first and punch back.”

And punch back they did.

The Stingers took the lead in the second quarter, but not by much. While they would not relinquish that lead for the rest of the game, the Citadins stayed within striking distance, never letting the lead get into double digits. By halftime, the Stingers led 39-35. 

After the intermission, Stingers guard Jaheem Joseph came alive, scoring eight of his 11 points in the back half of the game. The Stingers stepped up and honed in on their defensive prowess, tipping passes and creating scoring opportunities off of forced turnovers.

“I think our guys did a good job responding [...] to that physicality with physicality of their own,” lead assistant coach Aleks Mitrovic said. Mitrovic was acting head coach in Rastko Popovic’s place on Jan. 30.

The Stingers could only build up a comfortable lead at the end of the fourth quarter, but that was enough to secure the hard-fought win. Both teams finished with similar team statistics, but some notable Stingers stats included scoring 14 more points off of turnovers than the Citadins. They also blew them out in bench scoring, 26-10. 

Point guard Alec Phaneuf left everything out on the court Thursday night, finishing with a game-high 36 minutes, 21 points, five assists and four steals. Furthermore, he pulled down an additional five rebounds and flew around the court with tenacious defensive intensity.

“It’s been a couple of games that we're winning by a lot, and I knew this one was going to be closer,” Phaneuf said after the win. “I just felt like [I’d] let the game come to me, just calm down against this team and execute.”

This tooth-and-nail win against UQAM extends the Stingers’ win streak to eight consecutive regular season games, and nine if you count their exhibition win against the University of Ottawa in early January. Their conference record currently stands at 8-1, second only to a 10-1 Bishop’s University team that has played two more games.

After Concordia’s home win against UQAM on Jan. 30, they beat the Citadins again on Feb 2. The 76-54 win put Concordia at three wins to none against UQAM in the season series. The Stingers’ opportunity to extend their win streak to 10 consecutive games comes Thursday, Feb. 6, when they play Bishop’s University at John Dore Court.