Quebec City, QC – There is officially a new national champion in U SPORTS men’s basketball.
The host Laval Rouge et Or took down the OUA Champion Queen’s Gaels with a 77-71 win to claim their first U SPORTS gold medal in their program’s history, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
It marked the first time a school from the RSEQ captured the men’s basketball national title since 1998.
Ismael Diouf led the Rouge et Or in scoring with 26 points, going three for five from beyond the arc. Cole and Luka Syllas put in dominant shifts for the Gaels, but proved not enough to take down the home team, which only came into the tournament as hosts after posting an 11-20 record in the RSEQ regular season.
The way it has been for all of the Laval games with weekend, the crowd inside the Amphithéâtre Desjardins got loud and stayed loud. Armed with thundersticks on every seat, and a supporter section on the east baseline equipped with drums, bells and whistles the Laval crowd did it’s best to influence the outcome.
They certainly did at the start as the Rouge et Or, clearly buoyed by the energy opened up a 21-8 lead in the first with just under three minutes to play. Three straight baskets from Luka Syllas and a Cole Syllas three pointer got the score down to 24-17 for Laval after a quarter.
Into the second quarter it was Aaron Tennant leading the way for Queen’s as he picked up 8 points including a putback dunk that ignited the Queen’s faithful in the southwest corner of the stands.
The Gaels contined to press as a Cole Syllas jumper with three seconds left in the half gave Queen’s a 43-39 lead.
In the second half the back and forth battle continued. Connor Kelly hit a three to stretch Queen’s lead to 51-44 but Steeve Joseph and Ismeal Diouf hit back-to-back triples to cut the lead down to a single point as they battled back and forth throughout the entire game.
The Rouge et Or scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, holding off a late Queen’s charge, as Cole Syllas missed three point shot with 15 seconds to go, with the Gaels able to muster 15 points in the final quarter.