He may be a first-year head coach with a young team, but Rastko Popovic and his Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team sent a very clear message to the Quebec conference last night.
With a 95-83 win over the No. 4-ranked McGill Redmen in double overtime the Stingers let it be known they’re in it to win it.
“We know we can compete with the top teams (in CIS),” said Popovic. “We’re a young team. We’re growing. We grew a lot tonight as a team and as individuals. We were very poised. This is a great win for our program.”
The game was a see-saw battle with the lead changing hands several times. McGill was up 40-35 at halftime. The score was 69-69 after regulation time and then 75-75 after the first overtime period.
In the final five minutes, the Stingers took advantage of a number of calls against McGill including a double technical foul on Redman head coach David DeAveiro who was forced to leave the game with just over three minutes on the clock. Concordia drained all four of the ensuing free-throws and eventually outscored the Redmen by a 20-8 margin in the final frame.
Stinger point guard Ricardo Monge led all scorers in the game with 28 points. All-star forward Ken Beaulieu chipped in with 21 points and seven rebounds. Both earned kudos from Popovic for their efforts, but coach saved his highest praise for second-year guard Garry Merisier who had 19 points and four rebounds.
“The X factor for me was Garry,” he said. “He got us a lot of key baskets, key rebounds, key steals.”
The two teams meet again Saturday at 3 p.m. at McGill’s Love Competition Hall, 475 Pine Ave. W.
