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The Concordia Stingers jumped out to 20-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and then cruised to a 91-65 victory over the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs in the first game of the annual NIKE Invitational at Concordia University in Montreal on Friday night. The Stingers move on to face Laurier Golden Hawks in tomorrow afternoon’s championship game at 4 PM while the Vees, still looking for their first victory after a pair of early-season losses, will meet Memorial in the consolation final at 2 PM. Laurier handed the Seahawks their second consecutive 40+ point loss with a 93-51 thrashing in the night cap. The Stingers got solid performances from both Dwayne and Damian Buckley, getting on the offensive glass early and often. 6’8” Jamal Gallier had a big game inside for the Stingers, snaring 15 rebounds.

At the Irving Hoops Classic in Moncton, Acadia Axemen ensured the result of the AUS championship rematch from last season went in their favour early, jumping out to leads as high as 15 points before holding off a late Huskies run to defeat St. Mary’s 84-74. 6’5” Leonil Santil was a force inside for Acadia while reigning AUS Player-of-the-Year 6’1” Paolo Santana also had a big game for the Axemen, in a game played at the Moncton Coliseum in front of about 600 fans. Saintil threw in 22 points to lead Acadia while Santana added 15 points. CIS newcomer Brandon Mullins paced the Huskies with 16 points while Clint Bateman added 11. St. Mary’s played without last season’s CIS tournament hero 6’3” Mark McLaughlin, who has been out for about 10 days with a thigh contusion sustained during a scrimmage last week against Mount St. Vincent in Halifax. McLaughlin should be back in time for Huskies next game at home at the Tower next Friday night against Ryerson. St. Mary’s was also without 6’4” Aaron Duncan, who will likely not return until November while taking care of some personal issues. The Huskies got the game back to within 5 with 2 minutes remaining but could come no closer as Acadia’s experience and ability to play together helped them hold off for the win. In the college game played prior to the Axemen/Huskie affair, Mt. Allison Mounties defeat Atlantic Baptist University of Moncton by about 20, spoiling the coaching debut of ex-Calgary Dino and Ottawa Gee-Gee Greg Maillet on the ABU bench.

In St. Bruno, Quebec, the Ottawa Gee-Gees came out firing against the Champlain-St.Lambert zone defense, building up leads as high as 20 in the first half before cruising to a 93-74 victory. The Gee-Gees got up early by getting inside and making perimeter shots, as Champlain-St. Lambert played a zone the entire night. 6’9” Dax Dessureault had a career-high 26 points including 20 in the second half while fellow fourth-year forward 6’3” Sean Peter added 18 for Ottawa. The Gee-Gees got an opportunity to play all of their 6 new freshmen as 6’6” Justin Bell came off the bench to score 14 points. 6'4" veteran David Labentowicz added 12 for Ottawa while 6’8” Eric Williams, who has already signed with NCAA Division 1 Niagara Purple Eagles, led Champlain-St. Lambert with 19 points. Ottawa will likely meet Dawson College in the next week or so (game to be scheduled) and then will host the Jack Donohue Memorial tournament in two weeks at home in Ottawa.

In the battle of Lethbridge, an annual affair between the CIS Pronghorns and the CCAA's Lethbridge Community College (LCC), the Pronghorns rode a 10-0 run off the start of the game and then continued their solid play, defeating LCC 84-73 in front of about 600 fans at Lethbridge College. Veteran 6’5” Ryan Anderson and 6’1” LCC transfer Sean Nelson each had 21 points to lead the ‘Horns as Nelson played his first game against his former program. 5’9” Allen Kadema had 7 points, 5 assists and 3 steals, while 7’0” Remington Stenler added 7 points and 11 boards for Lethbridge, which played without 6’5” freshman forward Sephton Spence from Pickering, ON, out with a concussion. The Horns pushed to run away late but LCC got three consecutive 3’s from guard Darcy Day Chief, who led all scorers with 22 points. The Pronghorns shared the ball well with 25 assists as a team but the game was typically sloppy for an early season affair as the ‘Horns turned it over 30 times. Lethbridge travels to the Thompson Rivers tournament in Kamloops, B.C. next weekend.

6’8” sophomore forward Chris Heshka came off the bench to shoot 8 for 9 and finish with a game-high 16 points as Regina Cougars built up an early 18 point lead and came away with a 91-70 victory over Lakeland College of the ACAC Friday night in Regina. 6’0” guard Jeff Lukomski added 15 for the Cougars while stalward 6’5” forward Jamal Williams had a stat-sheet-stuffing 8 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Regina led by 14 at halftime after going to their bench for much of the second quarter and then re-extended their lead to over 20 in the second half. Regina, off next weekend, travels to the University of Saskatchewan tournament in two weeks.

Saturday's CIS Schedule:
Saturday, Oct. 6th
2 PM Laurentian vs. Memorial (Concordia NIKE tournament consolation final)
4 PM Laurier at Concordia (NIKE tournament championship game)
7 PM American International (NCAA D2) at Bishop's (non-conference)