McGill outlasts UNB in triple OT

MONTREAL - Tristan Renaud-Tremblay of Terrebonne, Que., scored a career high 30 points and was one of two McGill players to register a "double-double" as the Redmen outlasted the UNB Varsity Reds 98-95 in triple overtime at the Citadins Holiday Classic basketball tournament hosted by UQAM, Thursday.

The 55-minute contest, which took two hours and 25 minutes to play, was the longest record overtime in McGill hoops history. It featured seven lead changes and four players who fouled out, three of them with UNB. McGill trailed 17-16 after the opening quarter but rallied to lead 39-29 at the half and 53-48 after three stanzas. UNB outscored McGill by five points in the fourth to tie the score at 66-66 at the end of regulation on a Michael Fosu jumper with 15 seconds remaining. The score was knotted at 79-79 after the first extra period and 86-86 after the second overtime.

Renaud-Tremblay, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward and a kinesiology sophomore, also pulled down 10 rebounds and had two blocked shots in 48 minutes of court-time. He went 12-for-18 shooting from the field and made five of seven shots from the line.

Teammate Karim Sy-Morissette, a sophomore guard from Montreal who led all players with 51 minutes of playing time, scored 17 points and ripped down a game-high 15 rebounds. He was 6-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-10 from the charity stripe.

Two other Redmen also reached double figures in scoring, with junior Winn Clark of Mission Hills, Kansas, and senior Nicholas Nishikawa of Manotick, Ont., registering 22 and 10 points, respectively.

McGill, which had a monumental 68-36 edge in rebounds, shot a stellar 50.6 per cent from the floor, connecting on 40 of 79 attempts. The Redmen went 2-for-12 from three-point range (16.7%) and 16-for-28 from the foul line (57.1%). UNB connected on 42.7, 25.8 and 73.9, respectively.

UNB had five players in double figures, led by Daniel Quiron with 24 points, Alex Desroches (17), Will McFee (16), Robert Linton (14) and Fosu (14).

McGill (1-1), which dropped their opener 83-69 to Lakehead on Wednesday, plays the Montreal Dynamo (2-0), an elite senior team, on Friday at 12 noon.

TOURNOI CLASSIQUE DES CITADINS

Wednesday, Dec. 28

Dynamo 76, UQAM   61      (M)
Laval 73, McMaster  69       (F)
UNB  80, Bishop's   63        (M)
Ottawa 86, Acadia 58         (F)
Lakehead 83, McGill 69  (M)
Laurier 67, UQAM 53          (F)

Thursday, Dec. 29

Ottawa 53, Laval  45           (F)
Dynamo 84, Bishop's 64     (M)
McMaster 70, UQAM  55      (F)
McGill 98, UNB 95 (3OT)  (M)
Acadia 66, Laurier 55 (OT)  (F)
Lakehead 87, UQAM 77       (M)

Friday, Dec. 30

McMaster  vs   Acadia            (F) 10h00
Dynamo    vs   McGill         (M) 12h00
Laval         vs   Laurier          (F) 14h30
Lakehead  vs    Bishop's        (M) 16h30
UQAM       vs   Ottawa           (F)  19h00
UQAM       vs   UNB               (M)  21h00