In the opening round of the CIS Final 8 men’s basketball championship, the No. 3-seeded Concordia Stingers fell in a deep hole early in the game and were never able to claw their way out.
The sixth-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men romped to a 98-82 victory over the Stingers before a crowd of more than 5,000 at the Metro Centre in Halifax. They had a 23-2 lead four minutes into the game and they were up 32-15 at the end of the first quarter.
“I was surprised myself,” said St. FX head coach Steve Konchalski. “I have nothing but respect for Concordia and coach John Dore. We were just full of energy and they missed some shots.”
Although the Stingers were scrappy, narrowing the gap to 13 points a couple of times, they couldn’t get close.
“They beat us in every facet of the game,” said Concordia head coach John Dore. “It wasn’t just the first quarter, it was the whole game. They outhustled us and outworked us. They did everything a little quicker and a little more efficiently.”
Five Stingers had double figures in the game – Zach Brisebois had 12 points and was named the Concordia Player of the Game. Jerome Blake and Kafil Eyitayo scored 11 points each. Evens Laroche and Kyle Desmarais were good for 10 points each.
Terry Thomas, a second-year guard, scored 39 points and was named the St. FX Player of the Game.
The Stingers move to the consolation side of the draw and face the Ryerson Rams on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. AST. The Rams lost their opening round game 81-52 to the No. 2-seeded Alberta Golden Bears.
