Can the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team make it a three-peat?
The two-time defending Quebec university champions opened the 2012 regular season with a 74-69 road victory over the UQAM Citadins last Wednesday. The team hopes to carry the early momentum back to Loyola campus on Thursday night for the home-opener versus the Laval Rouge et Or.
To succeed again this season Concordia will have to compensate for the departures of two fifth-year players – forward James Clark and point guard Decee Krah. Second-year guard Jerome Blake and fourth-year guard Morgan Tajfel are two players Stinger head coach John Dore expects to fill the void.
“Jerome is going to have a significant role on the team and be a major contributor and the same for Morgan,” said Dore.
Unfortunately for the team, the injury bug early in the year. Centre Zach Brisebois is out until January. Forward Taylor Garner has already missed a month and there is no timetable for his return. Add in all-Canadian guard Kyle Desmarais, and that’s three veterans on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
With two of the team’s best rebounders out, it’s up to fifth-year forwards Evens Laroche, a 2012 all-Canadian, and Kafil Eyitayo to clean up the glass for Concordia.
The Stingers finished in first-place in the RSEQ last year with a 14-2 win-loss record. While the banged-up team will have to battle hard to keep pace in an improved Quebec conference, Dore has high hopes for the season.
“I think right now we’re a better team (than last year), but it’s tough playing with only nine or 10 guys,” he said. “My goal right now is just to get through the first-semester. I think we’re just going to get better and better as we get more bodies back.”
Two key players have joined the squad this season. Keep an eye on point guard Adam Chmielewski, a two-time CEGEP all-star with the Champlain-St. Lambert Cavaliers who went to the NCAA to play with the St. Francis University Terriers in 2010-11. He sat out last season and has been logging lots of minutes since starting with the Stingers in September.
Guard Laurent FitzGerald also joins Concordia having spent time with the South African junior national team.
The Stingers and the Rouge et Or tip off on Thursday at 8 p.m. The last time these two teams met was in the RSEQ semifinals with the Stingers coming out on top by a 66-65 score.
