QUEBEC — Before the U Sports men's basketball champion, Laval University's head coach Nathan Grant said his team rises to challenges from a superior team.
On Sunday, players on the Rouge et Or showed their head coach was right.
In front of a sellout and loud Amphithéâtre-Desjardins on the campus of the University of Laval, the host Rouge et Or captured their first-ever U Sports men’s basketball national championship by defeating the Queen’s Gaels 77-71.
Ranked eighth heading into the Final 8, Laval will hang the first basketball banner in the history of the institution.
It was a see-saw battle between the No. 2 seed Queen’s and Laval. Down early by the score of 8-5, the Rouge et Or battled back to score 16 unanswered points to take a 21-8 advantage. Laval led 24-17 after the first quarter.
Queen’s fought back in the second quarter and took the ball to the offensive boards, as they became more physical under the net, especially with the play of Adeforlaren (Fofo) Adetogun, who got under the skin of many Laval players. The Gaels managed to slow down the rapid Laval players and took a 43-39 lead to the dressing room at halftime.
A more poised Laval team came back for the second half and started using its speed as Grant’s players were often the first player to retrieve a loose ball or fetch a rebound.
Diminutive forward Steeve Joseph (five-foot-eight) who played his CEGEP basketball at Vanier in Montreal was the court leader throughout the game. In the second half, Joseph calmly led the offence on the court, getting his teammates set, especially, the player of the game for Laval, Ismaël Diouf, who scored 26 points for the national champs.
The strategy worked as Laval led 57-55 after three quarters.
In the final quarter, Queen’s gave it all they had but Laval hung on. However, in the final minutes of the game, trailing 68-67 Andrew Tennant stole the ball and slam dunked the Gaels to a 69-68 lead with 1:37 to go in regulation time.
Diouf then picked up an important offensive rebound and put Laval ahead 70-69 as the loud crowd responded as they could smell the victory with 51 seconds to play.
Joseph then extended the lead to 72-69 with 29 seconds to go and the Rouge et Or were on their way to victory.
Cole Syllas was named the player of the game for Queen’s. Syllas had 17 points, 13 rebounds. As for Diouf, he added 12 rebounds to his 26 points.
An all-tournament member, Diouf was named the recipient of the Jack Donahue Trophy as the tourney’s most valuable player.
For the Rouge et Or, they started the tournament with a 75-69 win over the heavily favoured Victoria Vikes, the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
Laval followed that surprising victory by overcoming the Atlantic champions, the Dalhousie Tigers from Halifax, 85-77. The Tigers were the No. 5 seed in the tournament.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2024.
Luc Long, The Canadian Press
