Fourth-year guard Kyle Desmarais scored 21 points to lead the Concordia Stingers to a 62-60 victory over the No. 9-ranked McGill Redmen in a wild basketball game before a boisterous capacity crowd at Concordia gym on Thursday night.
Desmarais went five for 12 from the field and was a perfect 10 of 10 at the free-throw line. In three games since the holidays, Desmarais is averaging 21.7 points a game.
All-Canadian forward Evens Laroche connected for 14 points, including the winning basket with 38 seconds left to play. Centre Kafil Eyitayo was the player who had the crowd going wild with dunks and an amazing four blocks. He finished the night with seven points and 10 rebounds.
Concordia started slowly, falling behind 16-11 at the end of the first quarter. By halftime the Stingers had a 29-14 lead and Desmarais had 15 points. In the last 20 minutes, the lead see-sawed back and forth and the outcome was only decided in the dying seconds of the game.
The Stinger win creates a three-way log-jam atop the RSEQ men’s basketball standings between Concordia, McGill and the Bishop's Gaiters. Each team has a 6-3 win-loss record with seven games remaining before playoffs.
Concordia travels across town to meet the UQAM Citadins this Saturday at 5 p.m. The team returns home next Saturday, Feb. 2 to host the Laval Rouge et Or at 4 p.m.
