Stingers battle tough competition in Concordia Classic tournament

Concordia won one of three basketball tournament games

SportsMalcom David — Published October 15, 2024 0 minutes

The three-day event held at the Loyola High School gym saw the Stingers face tough competition outside of Quebec. In their three games, the Stingers faced the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, McMaster Marauders and the Cape Breton University Capers.

For Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic, who was entering his 10th season at the helm, the tournament presented a unique opportunity for the team to test their strengths against non-conference opponents in preparation for the upcoming Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) season.

“In general, these games are very important,” Popovic said. “League play only starts in November so we get a chance to play some early NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) games in August and we get these non-conference games and, again, you're playing against different players.”  

The Stingers ended the tournament in third place, winning one of their three competitive matchups. They opened with a dominant 71-49 victory against Laurier thanks to 20 points from fourth-year guard Alec Phaneuf. 

In their second matchup, the Stingers narrowly lost 80-79 to McMaster in a game that could have been won at the buzzer. The final game revealed the depth of competition as Cape Breton handed the Stingers a humbling 101-78 loss.

Veteran Stingers were keen to mention improvements in leadership, details and communication on defence that were the team’s shortcomings in the tournament and would be crucial to a good season.

“The competition throughout the tournament was crazy [...] but we owned up every day except today [...] we have to do better,” tournament all-star Phaneuf said after the loss against the Capers. “We have to be better leaders. That's one thing. Like, all the vets, one thing coaches raise a lot, [is that] we have to be more vocal leaders.”

The Concordia Classic also gave fans an early glimpse of new Stinger recruits from CEGEP, including 6’6” forward Liam Daniel Ngos and 6'2” guard Miguel Doyon-Jeremy, both of whom have gotten votes of confidence from Popovic so far this preseason.  

“Honestly, I think it's a good level. Coming from CEGEP and [now] playing, like, bigger guys, the competition is definitely there,” Ngos said. “We have a solid team. And I like this kind of game, especially the Classic, where we're facing actually good teams.”

Despite two tough losses, the players remained optimistic, focusing on the positives from the tournament and looking ahead to another push for the RSEQ title this season. The Stingers came only six points short in last year’s final against Université du Québec à Montréal despite playing without injured RSEQ all-star guard Sami Jahan.

“I feel like we're getting better every day, every game. We make some new mistakes and we can make some adjustments after that,” second-year centre Karam Sahly said. “I feel like with this group that we have now, with the experience that we got last year, we can do great things this year.”

The Stingers officially open their season on Nov. 7 at home against Bishop’s University with tip-off set at 8 p.m.