LENNOXVILLE, Que. – Senior captain
Kevin Davis' (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor H.S.) "and-one" with 11 seconds left gave the Bishop's Gaiters a 75-73 lead over the Laval Rouge et Or on Saturday night in front of a boisterous Mitchell Gym crowd. Bishop's hung on to beat the Rouge et Or for the second time in as many nights and propel them back into the thick of the playoff picture.
Davis scored a game-high 24 points in 28 minutes and had six steals, two assists and a pair of rebounds to complete his stat line.
Abdul Kamane (Montreal, Que./Vanier College) was the only other Gaiter in double figures with 11 points.
For Laval, Alexandre Leclerc scored 18 including a controversial three-pointer as the shot clock expired in the final two minutes to give the Rouge et Or a late lead, one they could not hold onto. He also had 13 rebounds. Marc-Andre Fortin tallied a double-double of his own with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Yoann Folquet rounded out Laval players in double figures with 13.
The back and forth game saw each team grab a 13 point advantage at one point, Laval's came in the first quarter and the Gaiters' in the third stanza.
Laval came out vigorously after losing in Quebec City last night. The lead would have been worse if it was not for Davis' triple as the first quarter ended. Bishop's chipped away and cut the lead 38-36 at halftime. The Gaiters lit it up in the third, winning the frame 27-19 while shooting just shy of 53 percent. Laval came all the way back in the fourth and took a four-point lead with 27 seconds left.
Joany Castor Thadal (Montreal, Que./Champlain Collge St-Lambert) connected from long range, and then Bishop's forced a turnover and Davis' heroics took centre stage.
"We were able to survive some cold shooting, today it was in the fourth quarter," said Gaiters' head coach
Rod Gilpin. "Our guys just stepped up when they needed to. I think we've been a little bit unlucky and tonight luck came our way down the stretch.
"Kevin played the way we need him to play. He's our senior captain and the best player on our team and that's what he's capable of. I very happy he was able to step up and provide what we needed."
Bishop's plays the final home game of the year next week when they host the Concordia Stingers on Saturday at 8 p.m.
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