Saturday, 22 January 2011

McGill 82, UQAM 70 in Overtime

The Redmen came all the way back from a 13 point second half deficit to take the lead in regulation before giving up a late 3 that tied the game but then completely dominated the extra session to move into sole possession of second place in QUBL with a strong win at UQAM.  McGill's pair of young guards 6'0" Olivier Bouchard and 6'3" Simon Bibeau (25 points) were instrumental in the comeback win as Bouchard made at least 4 tough 3's down the stretch of regulation and overtime and Bibeau orchestrated the offense, making many of the key decisions.  McGill stymied the Citadins defensively, especially inside where a swarming post "d" made things difficult for UQAM down the stretch.
The Redmen trailed 55-42 early in the fourth, but used full court pressure and several clutch shots from Bouchard to finally take the lead with just over 3 minutes to go on a lay-in by 6'3" Winn Clark after Bibeau found him on a back-door cut.  The game see-sawed from there and another Bouchard 3 with under 2 minutes to go gave McGill a three point lead.  Later Bibeau was fouled on a strong take with 37 seconds remaining, making both free throws for another 3 point lead.  UQAM looked for the game-tying 3 and finally got 6'2" lefty Franz St.Cyr open and he made no mistake, tying the game and sending the partisan crowd into a frenzy.  Bouchard's last second attempt from the elbow came up short and the teams went to the extra frame tied at 68.

McGill never trailed in the overtime, holding UQAM to only 2 free throw makes over the final 5 extra minutes and took the lead for good on a left handed baby hook from 6'7" Tristan Tremblay inside on the first possession of overtime.  Bibeau then took over, making a tough elbow jumper and later feeding Bouchard with a 30 foot pass on the break which the diminutive guard finished nicely and McGill was never threatened thereafter.  Bouchard put the exclamation mark on the game with a 3 from the left corner, giving the Redmen a 79-69 lead and capping an 11-1 run.

QUBL Standings
Laval 7-2
McGill 6-3
Concordia 6-4
UQAM 4-5
Bishop's 0-9

1 comment:

Alex Tourigny said...

In fact, the 4th quarter endend on a 2 pointer by Arthaud Plesius, but the referees said that the ball left his hands too late (which was the good call...close call, but the good one to me).

McGill dominated the overtime after that...