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By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Moustafa El Zanaty of Montreal and Sean Anthony of Vancouver, B.C., scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, but the McGill 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 McGill turnovers to score 13 points compared to the Redmen who failed to transform any of Laval’s 16 turnovers onto the scoreboard.

McGill 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 McGill’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 McGill, 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. McGill 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.

McGill, 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 McGill 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
McGill 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), McGill 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.,

McGill Redmen (M)-Moustafa El Zanaty.

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

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

Technical fouls--Laval Rouge et Or-None, McGill Redmen (M)-None.