Stingers shoot for stars after
impressing the U.S. squads

John Austen

 
Photo by Shana Jean

The powerful Laval Rouge et Or must be looking over their shoulders. The Concordia Stingers are already the talk of Canadian basketball — and the season hasn't even started yet.

Coach John Dore and his Stingers have prepped for the 2004 season by taking on some top NCAA competition from south of the border, and have received rave reviews from everyone, including the American coaches.

“I think the Stingers would have to be one of the top three or four teams in Canada,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, after his team edged Concordia 88-76 in the final of the Nike Tournament held earlier this month at Concordia Gym.

“They would have trouble with some of the size with teams in the NCAA but they would play anybody tough. They're a well-coached club.”

Coach Dore was pleased with his team's effort in the final.

“I though we had a chance to win it and pull off a major upset,” he said. “I'm very proud of this team. We came back in the second half. We dug down deep and played hard.”

The Stingers had a strong season last year, winning 13 of 16 games in the conference. They lost twice to Laval in league play, however, and were upset by Bishop's in the Quebec semifinals. All signs are that won't happen again this year.

“This team should be in the hunt for a national championship,” said Stinger supporter Alan Da Silva, who witnessed the Virginia game. “That may be putting a lot of pressure on them before the season even starts but a lot of people are excited about this team.”

One reason is the arrival of rookie Dwayne Buckley from Vanier, one of the top recruits in Canadian university basketball this season. Buckley, 21, made his debut Oct. 8 when the Stingers dumped Lethbridge (Alta.) 92-52 in the opener of the Nike Tournament.

“He has a lot of skills and is very athletic,” said Dore of his prize rookie. “We look for him to be an impact player early on.”

No one was upset with the narrow loss to Virginia, a Division 1 team that plays in the tough Atlantic Conference. The Stingers trailed by only four points with five minutes to play and matched the bigger and stronger visitors stride for stride.

Concordia did get a win against U.S. competition, beating the University of New Hampshire Wildcats 102-96 in overtime last Friday. Veteran Jon Dresner scored 27 points in the win. He also hit on four of six attempts from the 3-point line.

Patrick Perrotte (in the photo above) added 22 points for the Stingers.
Next up were the South Carolina Gamecocks, who gave the Stingers a basketball lesson, beating them 106-73.

“I wanted to go to a place [Montreal] where we could play some 'real' teams,” said USC head coach Dave Odom on the Gamecocks' Web site.
“I feel the timing is good, and we will see our new guys under real fire against some proven teams.”

Concordia players Phil Langlois and Ben Sormonte made the tournament all-star team.After playing an out-of-town tournament, the Stingers open up the regular season Nov. 5 at UQAM.