Friday 3 December 2010

Laval 81, McGill 76

The Rouge et Or jumped out to an early lead by getting out in transition and then answered every McGill run in the second half including a rally that got it to 5 with a minute remaining to remain undefeated in the Q. 

The veteran Laval group was able to run their offense building a 10 point lead midway through the third quarter and after the Redmen could not handle consecutive flex cuts, McGill coach Dave DeAveiro dropped his team into a 2/3 zone.  Although giving up a pair of 3's to Xavier Baribeau and J.F. Beaulieu-Mahieux, the Redmen scrapped and clawed their way back into the game at 68-61 after three on the heels of a 6-0 run to end the quarter.

When 6'6" Etienne Labrecque began the fourth with a transition 3 that was nicely absorbed by the friendly McGill rims, Laval had another double digit lead but then 6'3" Simon Bibeau went to work with a steal and lay in and, after a timeout, McGill's Karim Sy-Morrissette got an easy layup off a set play and McGill was back to within 6.  But Laval took off on an 8-0 run of their own, primarily off a sophocating sinking "d" that did not allow the Redmen much penetration and the double digit lead was restored.  But then Bibeau awoke offensively with 5 straight points after Sy-Morrissette got the crowd back into it with a baseline 3.  Bibeau's buzzer-beating circus one-hander got it back to 6 at 79-73 but then Baribeau got to the rim.  Still, 6'8" Nic Langley hit a big three to bring it to 5, McGill got a turnover and had a chance to cut it even closer but Sy-Morrissette left his feet to pass and on the ensuing steal by Jerome Turcotte, Laval was able to run out the clock.

Labrecque led all scorers with 18 points while Turcotte had 17 points, 7 rebounds and the big steal in the final minute despite battling foul trouble all night.  Beaulieu-Mahieux added 14 while steady freshman Hughes Ryan had 10.  Laval got a strong 10 point, 8 rebound performance from big Kevin Crevant who showed a nice 15 foot range.

Langley led McGill with 9 of his 12 in the second half while Bibeau had most of his 12 in the second frame.  McGill pg Olivier Bouchard struggled in the second half after scoring all of his 11 points in the first half.  Sy-Morrissette scored 10 points, added 9 rebounds but had 6 turnovers.  McGill hurt themselves with an 11 for 18 performance from the line.

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