Gaiters bag big pair of wins at McGill

MONTREAL  – Moustafa El-Zanaty led all scorers with 26 points but it was not enough as the visiting Bishop’s Gaiters gained a measure of revenge by sweeping McGill in Quebec University Basketball League action Friday in Montreal. In the opener, Bishop’s downed the McGill Martlets 50-38. The men completed the sweep with a come-from-behind 77-73 victory over the Redmen.

A 16-point, seven rebound performance from Cam Mowat of Kelowna, B.C., led the Bishop’s Gaiters to a 77-73 win over the McGill Redmen. Mowat scored 14 second-half points, as the Gaiters overcame a 34-33 halftime deficit to gain a split of their weekend series.

Bishop’s came out strongly, leading by as many as 10 points in the first quarter. However, McGill answered the challenge, taking the lead early in the second quarter and pulling away to a seven-point lead with 7:28 left in the half. The Gaiters crept back to within one point at the interval.

The second half featured four tied scores and four lead changes in a tightly-contested affair. With the scored knotted at 40-40, McGill went on an 8-0 run in 54 seconds, and threatened to run away with the game. However, a Bishop’s time out with 5:36 left in the quarter stopped McGill’s momentum.  A jumper by Damon Thomas-Anderson of Verdun, Que., launched the Gaiters on a 12-3 run of their own, keyed by two big three-pointers from Mowat, as the Gaiters took a slim 52-51 lead with 2:31 left in the frame.

The lead changed hands several times in the next five minutes, before Hermon Tesfaghebriel’s layup gave the Gaiters the lead for good at 60-59 with 6:32 remaining. The Gaiters stretched their lead to as many as seven points with four mintes left, but McGill did not go away quietly.

A pair of free throws by El-Zanaty pulled the Redmen to within two at 71-69 with 21 seconds left, but the Gaiters sealed with win with clutch free-throw shooting from Thomas-Anderson and Mowat in the dying seconds.

For Bishop’s, Damon Thomas-Anderson scored a team-high 19 points, including 7-for-10 from the free-throw line, while Junior Nicolas of Montreal, Que., added 18 and Mowat scored 16.

For McGill, Sean Anthony of Vancouver, B.C., contributed 15 points and Pawel Herra of Kingston, Ont., added a dozen more.

The Gaiters (4-6) are now alone in fourth place in the QUBL, one game up on McGill (3-7). The Redmen will host UQAM on Thursday, Jan. 29 in the first of a home-and-home series. The follow-up affair is slated for Saturday.

BU returns to action next week, with a series against the Laval Rouge et Or (5-3), starting Friday in Ste-Foy with the return match on Saturday night in Lennoxville.

Newspaper Box Score

(1/24/09 20h00 at Love Competition  Hall)

BISHOP’S GAITERS (M) 77, MCGILL REDMEN (M) 73


BISHOP’ (M)
D. Thomas-Anderson 6-8 7-10 19; Emmanuel Jr Nicolas 4-14 8-13 18; Cam Mowat
5-10 2-2 16; Tim Hunter 4-7 0-0 8; Darcy Nash 3-4 0-2 7; Hermon
Tesfaghebriel 2-4 1-4 5; Kevin Selman 1-5 0-0 2; Tim McAleenan 1-5 0-0 2;
Alex Genier 0-0 0-0 0; Donald Lindo 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 18-31 77.

MCGILL (M)
Moustafa El Zanaty 9-18 6-9 26; Sean Anthony 5-9 5-8 15; Pawel Herra 4-9 2-2
12; Michael White 3-6 0-0 6; Matthew Thornhill 3-15 0-0 6; Jesse Woods 3-5
0-0 6; Greg Gause 1-3 0-0 2; Erik Galas 0-1 0-0 0; Sebastien Gatti 0-0 0-0
0; Jeff Cumming 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 13-19 73.

Bishop’s (M)..........   15   18   21   23  -   77
McGill (M).............   14   20   21   18  -   73

3-point goals--Bishop’s Gaiters (M) 7-25 (Cam Mowat 4-6; Emmanuel Jr Nicolas
2-7; Darcy Nash 1-1; Kevin Selman 0-1; Tim McAleenan 0-2; Donald Lindo 0-4;
Tim Hunter 0-3; D. Thomas-Anderson 0-1), McGill Redmen (M) 4-20 (Moustafa El
Zanaty 2-6; Pawel Herra 2-6; Matthew Thornhill 0-7; Sean Anthony 0-1).
Fouled out--Bishop’s Gaiters (M)-Donald Lindo, McGill Redmen (M)-Michael
White. Rebounds--Bishop’s Gaiters (M) 34 (Tim Hunter 8), McGill Redmen (M)
38 (Sean Anthony 10; Michael White 10). Assists--Bishop’s Gaiters (M) 12
(Darcy Nash 3), McGill Redmen (M) 14 (Sean Anthony 5). Total fouls--Bishop’s
Gaiters (M) 23, McGill Redmen (M) 27. Technical fouls--Bishop’s Gaiters
(M)-None, McGill Redmen (M)-None.