Redmen hoopsters run out of gas against No.7-Concordia

By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Damian Buckley scored 22 points as No.7-ranked Concordia led from start to finish en route to an 80-63 win over visiting McGill in a Quebec university men’s basketball sudden-death semifinal before 408 at the Concordia gym, Friday.

Jamal Gallier, a 6-foot-7, 270-pound centre, registered a “double-double” with 12 points and 13 rebounds for Concordia, who had a 38-29 edge in rebounding.

The Stingers will advance to meet UQAM, who pulled off an 84-73 upset over Laval in the other semifinal, for the Quebec conference championship at Concordia on Thursday, March 5 at 7 p.m.

McGill fell into an early hole, trailing 19-4 just six minutes into the contest and were never able to recover. The Stingers maintained a comfortable 26-16 lead after one quarter, then upped that to 44-31 at the half and 59-48 after three quarters.

It was an extremely physical affair between the bitter cross-town rivals with 42 personal fouls being called and bodies bumping, flying and sliding all over the court. The Stingers went to the foul line 32 times, while the Redmen made 18 trips to the line. Two members of the Redmen, Sean Anthony and Michael White, fouled out.

McGill shot 32.8 per cent from the field (22/67), 27.3 from three-point range (6/22) and 72.2 from the line (13/18), compared to Concordia, which shot 45.6 (26/57), 33.3 (7/21) and 65.6 (21/32), respectively.

It was the final collegiate contest for three Redmen seniors, including Montrealer Moustafa El Zanaty, who had a game-high 23 points, on 6-for-19 shooting. He also went 9-for-10 from the foul line, grabbed three rebounds and had nine assists. “Moose”, a transfer from the NCAA who will graduate with a management certificate in finance and treasury, finished with 1,273 points in 64 career games. He established McGill single-season records for most three-pointers made (88) and assists (142).

El Zanaty has scored in double figures in 55 of 64 games in a Redmen uniform, including 33 times with 20 or more points. He averaged 20.1 points-per-game over his two seasons, the third-highest career mark in school history behind Nasko Golomeev (37.5 ppg) and Pierre Brodeur (25.2).

Sean Anthony, a fifth-year physical education major from Vancouver, B.C., had 17 points with a team-high nine rebounds. He finishes fourth among McGill’s all-time scoring leaders with 1,834 career points. Anthony reached double figures in scoring 82 times in a school record 152 career contests, including 21 double-doubles. The only Redmen who posted more points were Denburk Reid (2,220), Willie Hinz (2,126) and Domenico Marcario (1,889).

Also dressing for the last game was Erik Galas of Ottawa, who played a season-high 17 minutes. He joined the Redmen hoopsters in January, becoming one of only five players in McGill history to play both football and basketball in the same season, Galas will now focus his energies on making the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes as a receiver.

The Redmen closed their 107th campaign at 16-17 overall, including a disappointing 5-9 at home and an 11-8 road record.

Newspaper Box Score

McGill Redmen vs Concordia University

(Feb. 27, 2009 at Concordia gym)


CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 80, MCGILL REDMEN 63

MCGILL REDMEN

Moustafa El Zanaty 6-19 9-10 23; Sean Anthony 7-19 3-4 17; Pawel Herra 2-10 0-0 6; Jesse Woods 2-2 1-2 5; Michael White 2-4 0-0 5; Matthew Thornhill 2-7 0-0 4; Erik Galas 1-4 0-2 3; Nicholas Nishikawa 0-1 0-0 0; Jeff Cumming 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 22-67 13-18 63.

CONCORDIA

Damian Buckley 6-10 9-11 22; Jamal Gallier 4-6 4-6 12; Decee Krah 3-7 2-4 11; Pierre Thompson 4-11 0-0 9; Adam Carneol 2-4 0-2 6; Dwayne Buckley 3-9 0-2 6; Sebastian Martin 1-4 4-5 6; Evens Laroche 2-4 0-0 4; James Clark 0-1 2-2 2; Kafil Eyitayo 1-1 0-0 2.
Totals 26-57 21-32 80.

McGill Redmen................. 16 15 17 15 - 63

Concordia University..........26 18 15 21 - 80

3-point goals-
McGill Redmen 6-22 (Pawel Herra 2-8; Moustafa El Zanaty 2-6; Erik Galas 1-1; Michael White 1-1; Matthew Thornhill 0-3; Sean Anthony 0-3),

Concordia 7-21 (Decee Krah 3-7; Adam Carneol 2-3; Pierre Thompson 1-4; Damian Buckley 1-3; Sebastian Martin 0-1; Dwayne Buckley 0-3).

Fouled out--
McGill Redmen-Sean Anthony; Michael White,
Concordia University-None.

Rebounds-
McGill Redmen 29 (Sean Anthony 9),
Concordia 38 (Jamal Gallier 13).

Assists-
McGill Redmen 9 (Moustafa El Zanaty 9),
Concordia 17 (Damian Buckley 10).

Total fouls-
McGill 23,
Concordia 19.