ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ

By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Moustafa El Zanaty of Montreal and Sean Anthony of Vancouver, B.C., scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, but the ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen were outgunned 99-83 by Laval in men’s university basketball at Love Competition Hall, Friday.

The third-place Rouge et Or (7-6) countered with a balanced attack of five players who reached double figures in scoring. Etienne Labrecque, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound transfer from Quinnipiac University, led all scorers with 25 points in only 27 minutes of court time as Laval improved to 7-6 in the tight, five-team race for a playoff berth.

The lead changed hand eight times but Laval took advantage of 21 ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ turnovers to score 13 points compared to the Redmen who failed to transform any of Laval’s 16 turnovers onto the scoreboard.

ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ led 36-30 after a high-scoring run-and-gun opening quarter but Laval rallied to take a 55-49 advantage at halftime and stretched it to 81-66 after three quarters. The Rouge et Or bench, which had a huge 39-23 advantage in rebounds, also outscored ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s bench by a whopping 23-7 margin.

Laval shot an impressive 56.9 per cent from the floor (37/65), 53.8 from three-point range (14-26) and 84.6 from the foul line (11-13), compared to ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ, which shot 39.1, 34.2 and 74.1, respectively.

It was the first loss in three outings for the Redmen, which dropped to 5-8, with three games to go, and is in danger of missing the playoffs. ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ is currently tied with Bishop’s (5-10) for the last playoff berth and hold two games in hand over the Gaiters, who will close out their season at home to division-leading Concordia (9-4). UQAM sits second at 8-6.

ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ, which can still finish anywhere from second to fifth, plays at Laval on Saturday and will close out their regular schedule with a home-and-home versus Concordia, Feb. 20-21.


Newspaper Box Score

Laval Rouge et Or vs ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen

(02/13/09 20h00 at Love Competition Hall)

LAVAL ROUGE ET OR 99, MCGILL REDMEN 83

LAVAL ROUGE ET OR

Etienne Labrecque 8-15 5-5 25; J-F. Bealieu-M. 7-7 2-2 21; Jerome Turcotte 6-10 1-2 14; Xavier Baribeau 4-14 2-3 11; Francois-O. Hebert 5-6 0-0 10; Marc-Andre Cote 4-7 1-1 9; Yves-Andre Levasseur 3-5 0-0 9; Christian Trottier 0-0 0-0 0; Eric Bertin 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Crevant 0-1 0-0 0; Olivier Gravel 0-0 0-0 0; Francois-O. Mpabe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-65 11-13 99.

MCGILL REDMEN (M)

Moustafa El Zanaty 6-13 5-6 23; Sean Anthony 7-13 7-11 22; Pawel Herra 6-15 0-0 17; Michael White 2-3 4-6 8; Matthew Thornhill 1-10 4-4 6; Sebastien Gatti 1-3 0-0 3; Erik Galas 1-3 0-0 2; Greg Gause 1-2 0-0 2; Nicholas Nishikawa 0-1 0-0 0; Jesse Woods 0-0 0-0 0; Jeff Cumming 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-64 20-27 83.

Laval Rouge et Or............. 30 25 26 18 - 99
ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M)............. 36 13 17 17 - 83

3-point goals--Laval Rouge et Or 14-26 (J-F. Bealieu-M. 5-5; Etienne
Labrecque 4-8; Yves-Andre Levasseur 3-4; Jerome Turcotte 1-2; Xavier
Baribeau 1-7), ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M) 13-38 (Moustafa El Zanaty 6-12; Pawel Herra 5-13; Sean Anthony 1-2; Sebastien Gatti 1-3; Jeff Cumming 0-1; Erik Galas 0-1; Matthew Thornhill 0-6).

Fouled out--Laval Rouge et Or-J-F. Bealieu-M.,

ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M)-Moustafa El Zanaty.

Rebounds--Laval Rouge et Or 39
(Marc-Andre Cote 8), ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M) 23 (Sean Anthony 6).

Assists--Laval Rouge et Or 19 (Xavier Baribeau 12), ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M) 11 (Moustafa El Zanaty 6). Total fouls--Laval Rouge et Or 20, ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M) 21.

Technical fouls--Laval Rouge et Or-None, ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Redmen (M)-None.