On Nov. 18, McGill’s Martlet and Redmen basketball teams faced off against their Concordia rivals in the annual Pots and Pans double-header. After cheering the Martlets to a commanding 93-66 victory over the Concordia Stingers, the crowd excitedly whacked their pans to inspire the men’s side, hoping for a McGill sweep. When the final buzzer went off, the Stingers topped the Redmen 70-58, but the raucous crowd never quit. Fifth-year guard and Redmen team captain Dele Ogundokun highlighted the immense support that the Pots and Pans games bring every year.
“We’ve had […] successful pots and pans [games] over the last two [years], great support from the community and the student body,” Ogundokun said. “We expected a great turnout and it was another one today.”
The Redmen scored first in the first quarter, ending a minute and a half of scoreless play, but it took another few minutes before either team started heating up. Every basket McGill scored was quickly countered by Concordia, with the back-and-forth quarter ending 19-15 in McGill’s favour.
Scoring was tough to come by to start the second quarter, too. The Stingers eventually found their footing, taking advantage of the Redmen’s offensive struggles and weak defensive play to dominate the quarter and take the lead. However, fourth-year centre Noah Daoust broke McGill’s scoreless streak to give the Redmen new energy toward the end of the quarter, allowing the Redmen to ultimately the game back up heading into the half.
Early in the third quarter, McGill fell behind but their aggressive defence kept the deficit small. Ogundokun gave the Redmen their first lead since the beginning of the second quarter with a three-pointer. But, after playing a strong final minute, Concordia claimed a 46-41 lead going into the fourth.
McGill came out hot to start the final quarter but cooled off quickly, letting Concordia pull away. The Redmen struggled to find a way to slow the Stingers’ offence and with less than two minutes to play, McGill was down by nine. That deficit proved insurmountable. Offensive woes and defensive missteps haunted the Redmen throughout the rest of the game, allowing the scoring margin to grow. Head Coach David DeAveiro plans to use the lessons from Saturday’s game to improve his team’s adaptability.
“I thought we struggled today, offensively, and a large part of that was [Concordia’s] defence,” DeAveiro said. “They went small on us and they were switching us [….] We’ll go watch video and we’ll get better.”
Following their loss against the Stingers, the Redmen fell to 2-1 in league play and now share first place in the RSEQ with Concordia and Laval. They look to reclaim sole ownership of the top spot in their upcoming game at Bishop’s on Nov. 25. Catch Redmen basketball at home again on Jan. 6 against the UQAM Citadins.
Moment of the Game
Down two with just seconds remaining in the second quarter, fourth-year guard Avery Cadogan raced down the court and tied up the game with a huge dunk as the buzzer went off.
Quotable
“I don’t think we played our best game today and they were really good [but] sometimes that’s basketball [….] You’ve got to face a little adversity if you want to be a national champion.” – Head Coach David DeAveiro
Stat Corner
The Redmen shot 22-56 (39 per cent) from the field and 5-21 (24 per cent) from three.
