Men’s Basketball: Stingers Stall versus Bishop’s

Former Stinger Kyle Desmarais Scores 18 Points For Bishop’s In Return to Concordia

SportsJulian McKenzie — Published November 14, 2014 | Updated November 15, 2014 at 1:52am

As with their win over the Laval Rouge et Or last week, the Stingers didn’t have a great start and found themselves down for the entire game. At halftime, the Stingers were down 43-25 and were simply unable to make up the deficit.

“We got off to a really poor start,” said Stingers head coach John Dore. “We thought we were prepared and we weren’t focused [at] the beginning [of the game].”

“We dug ourselves a hole,” said Stingers forward Michael Fosu, when he spoke about his team’s play in the first half. “It’s tough to come back from that. Just defensively I felt like we were not in sync.”

“That was frustrating,” said Stingers rookie Ken Beaulieu.

The Stingers were matched up against a Bishop’s Gaiters squad that had knocked the McGill Redmen a week earlier, avenging their loss to McGill in last year’s provincial championship game.

Concordia began the game by giving the Gaiters a 7-0 lead before finishing the half down by a score of 43-25. Despite the score, the Stingers kept on fighting, as they held the Gaiters to only 10 points in the third quarter.

The comeback momentum continued to build, but it wasn’t meant to be. While the Stingers managed to bring their deficit down to four points late in the fourth quarter, the Maroon and Gold were unable to take the lead.

“We had seven possessions when [we were down 10 points] and we didn’t score,” said Dore. “Seven possessions.”

Additionally, former Stinger Kyle Desmarais was playing his first game against Concordia since leaving the team in 2013. The former league MVP led all players in scoring at game’s end with 18 points.

“We played extremely well in the first half,” said Desmarais after the game. “Dipped in the second half, got a little chippy towards the end. But you know Concordia’s going to fight. That’s what they’re known for. [They’re a] tough, gritty team.”

The Stingers will now turn their attention to their cross-town rivals, the McGill Redmen, next Saturday at 8 p.m., where they will look to return to their winning ways once more.

“I just feel like we’ve got to come with energy,” said Fosu. “Just learn from this loss and bring our energy towards McGill.”

“We’re going to get them,” added veteran forward Xander Jean.