Stumbling Stingers

Incomplete Men’s Basketball Team Blow Late Lead Against UQAM

SportsYacine Bouhali — Published January 16, 2013

Despite missing star players, the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team found themselves ahead of the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game—but it all slipped away in the final minutes of play.

“We just sucked at the end, we blew it,” said point guard Adam Chmielewski.

Coming off a hard-fought victory last week against the rivalling McGill Redmen, the Stingers thought they would be in for an easy game against the last-place Citadins. But Concordia had to play without forward Evens Laroche and guard Kyle Desmarais, both suspended after missing curfew during a tournament in Florida over the holidays.

Even without them, however, the Stingers had every opportunity to win, and even enjoyed a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. But everything fell apart in the fourth, their lead turning into a 69-69 tie with 32 seconds left to play.

With eight seconds remaining in the game, Citadins’ Nicolas Audet made a two-point jumper to give his side a 71-69 lead.

That was enough time for the Stingers to inbound the ball, Chmielewski driving down the court to attempt a game-winning three-point shot, but it fell wide of the mark as time expired.

“We didn’t lose because we were missing two guys, we lost because we made a lot of mistakes,” said Chmielewski, who finished the game with 14 points and nine assists.

The stats support Chmielewski’s statement, Citadins scoring 18 points from the Stingers 13 turnovers.

The loss puts the Stingers at 4-3 on the season, but they remain in second place. They now turn their attention to the top-ranked Bishop’s Gaiters (5-1), who they’ll take on at the Concordia Gym next Saturday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is at 4 p.m.