6’7″ Nic Langley had a career-high 24 points including the final 3 pointer from about 4 feet behind the arc with about 2 minutes remaining as Te’Jour Riley and his McGill University Men’s Basketball teammates defeated Bishop 67 - 58.
McGill used a 14-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to break open the game and lead by 11 at 53-42 early in the fourth. The run was catalyzed by 6’3″ freshman Riley, who finished a nice feed from 6’4″ point guard Karim Sy-Morissette and then had an acrobatic “and 1″ take to the rim in transition giving McGill their largest lead at 46-42. Later Riley took another feed from Sy-Morissette off a slick backdoor cut and finished with a two-handed slam that ignited the crowd on Senior’s Day, restoring an 11 point lead.
Bishop’s had one run left as 6’2″ Onnex Blackwood scored a team-high 14 points scored 8 consecutive points including a pair of 3′s from the right baseline to get the game back to within 6 at 59-53 but Bishop continued their carelessness with the basketball – likely had turnover count in the high teens – and McGill scored the next 8 points, capped by Langley’s NBA range 3.
Langley, regarded as a catch-and-shoot jump shooter, showed he is working on expanding his game with a couple of strong takes off the dribble but his long-range shooting is what spurred the Redmen this evening, including a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the first half that got a sluggish Redmen side back to within 3 at 27-24.
Earlier in the third quarter, McGill had bounced back from a 3 point halftime deficit but 6’5″ freshman Vincent Dufort picked up his third foul while attempting a block and compounded matters, picking up a “T”, allowing the Gaiters then to take their final lead of the night at 42-39, preceding McGill’s big 14-0 run. Dufort (10 points) sat for much of the first half with 2 first-quarter fouls and in the few consistent minutes he played showed that his perimeter skills starting the offense and making decisions continue to improve.
A sluggish first quarter saw a well-prepared Gaiters “d” hold McGill without a point for the final 5+ minutes of the frame while finishing the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 14-6. McGill Coach Dave DeAveiro decided to start 6’5″ Nick Nishikawa, the lone graduating senior honoured prior to the game and gave little-used 5’11″ pg Ave Bross extensive minutes in the quarter. Bishop’s also substituted liberally.
Bishop’s led by 10 when McGill used a mini-run, bouyed by their “d” – statistically the best in the Q – to bring the game back but Gaiters led into halftime. Gaiters got a nice first half from improving 6’9″ second-year center Mike Andrews, who led all first-half scorers with 8 points and had at least 2 very nice blocks inside.
