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By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Moustafa El Zanaty scored a game-high 18 points as McGill rallied to overcome a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes to defeat the visiting Universite du Quebec a Montreal 66-62 in a crucial men’s basketball game before 330 at Love Competition Hall, Wednesday.

In a wild affair, which featured 16 different lead changes, UQAM led 14-10 after the opening stanza, then trailed 34-31 at halftime before roaring back to take a 54-46 lead after three quarters.

El Zanaty, a Montrealer, shot 6-for-10 from the floor and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line as the Redmen improved to 4-7 and moved into a tie with idle Bishop’s (4-6) for the fourth and final playoff berth in the Quebec conference.

Adil El Makessoud and Souleymayne Diagne had 15 and 11 points, respectively, for the Citadins, who remained tied with idle Concordia (6-4) atop the Quebec league standings with a 6-5 record.

Trailing 62-50 in the final minutes, veteran guard Michael White sparked McGill’s comeback with a jump shot and only 4:37 left on the game clock. Matt Thornhill of Ile-Bizard, Que., and Sean Anthony of Vancouver, each hit on three-pointers and El Zanaty added six of his points down the stretch. The rest, as they say, was history.

White and Anthony each ended up with 11 points and the Redmen bench contributed significantly and outscored UQAM’s subs by a lopsided 49-20 margin.

McGill shot 49 per cent from the field (25/51), 31.3 from beyond the arc (5/16) and 73.3 from the foul line (11/15), compared to UQAM, which shot 45.6, 28.6 and 66.7, respectively.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at UQAM.

Newspaper Box Score

Jan. 29/09 at Love Competition Hall (McGill)

MCGILL REDMEN (M) 66, UQAM (M) 62

UQAM (M)
Adil El Makssoud 6-13 2-3 15; Souleymane Diagne 4-10 3-4 11; Abdoukarim
Gueye 4-5 0-0 8; Steeve Jerome 3-10 0-0 8; Neil Ze Mbo 3-6 0-0 6; Gregory St-Amand 3-5 0-0 6; Arthaud Plessius 2-4 0-1 4; Thierry Justin 1-4 1-1 4; Michael Sweeney 0-0 0-0 0; Paul-Emile Colas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 6-9 62.

MCGILL REDMEN (M)
Moustafa El Zanaty 6-10 6-6 18; Michael White 5-7 1-2 11; Sean Anthony 4-7 2-4 11; Sebastien Gatti 3-6 1-1 7; Erik Galas 2-4 0-0 6; Matthew Thornhill 2-6 0-0 5; Pawel Herra 2-4 0-0 4; Jeff Cumming 1-6 0-0 3; Jesse Woods 0-1 1-2 1; Nicholas Nishikawa 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 25-51 11-15 66.

UQAM (M)...................... 14 17 23 8 - 62
McGill Redmen (M)............. 10 24 12 20 - 66

3-point goals—

UQAM (M) 4-14 (Steeve Jerome 2-6; Thierry Justin 1-2; Adil El
Makssoud 1-3; Neil Ze Mbo 0-1; Arthaud Plessius 0-1; Souleymane Diagne 0-1),

McGill Redmen (M) 5-16 (Erik Galas 2-2; Jeff Cumming 1-2; Sean Anthony 1-2;Matthew Thornhill 1-4; Pawel Herra 0-2; Sebastien Gatti 0-2; Moustafa El Zanaty 0-2).

Fouled out--UQAM (M)-Arthaud Plessius, McGill Redmen (M)-None.

Rebounds--UQAM (M) 32 (Neil Ze Mbo 7), McGill Redmen (M) 22 (Sean Anthony 9).

Assists--UQAM (M) 9 (Souleymane Diagne 4; Adil El Makssoud 4), McGill
Redmen (M) 9 (Moustafa El Zanaty 3).

Total fouls--UQAM (M) 20, McGill Redmen(M) 14.

Technical fouls--UQAM (M)-None, McGill Redmen (M)-None.