6'6" freshman Gabriel Gonthier-Dubue was the difference down the stretch with several large offensive plays, including a put-back that tied the score at 53 and later a huge offensive rebound that he kicked out for a three by Warren Ward that basically clinched it to give the Gee-Gees a victory against their former coach Dave DeAveiro.
Ottawa led for much of the game, leading by 5 at halftime, but the Redmen orchestrated a tidy third quarter during which the ball got inside much more and 5'11" guard Olivier Bouchard came alive; his three on the final possession of the third put McGill up 43-42 after three quarters. But Ward, 6'9" Louis Gauthier and the energetic, athletic Gonthier-Dubue got it going inside.
Gonthier-Dubue's dunk and one on the break gave the Gee-Gees an early fourth-quarter 51-48. But McGill wasn't done as 6'3" Simon Bibeau knocked down a three when Ottawa went under a ball screen and then Bouchard fed 6'8" Greg Gause for a lay-up and the Redmen had what turned out to be their final lead at 53-51 with 4:24 remaining. Then Gonthier-Dubue put his stamp on the game with a putback, a nice high/low feed to Gauthier, a lay-in and then the big "o" board and kick out to Ward, who had another big offensive game, for a 3 that gave Ottawa a 63-56 lead with under 2 minutes to play.
McGill, led by Bouchard, who came alive in the second half after a sluggish start, had one final run with the second-year pg hitting back to back 3's that got it to within 1 with 5 seconds remaining. After Ward hit a pair of free throws, McGill worked for a last second look at a three but could not get a shot off and the Gee-Gees prevailed.
Both teams started sluggishly offensively with numerous turnovers and after one it was 12-8 Ottawa. The defense continued to dominate and the turnovers continued however the game did get a bit more flow to it as the second half progressed.
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