McGill 56, UTEP 54… 6’5″ Edgar Brown hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining to provide the margin of victory as the Redmen bounced back late after squandering a five-point lead to edge the Miners in Costa Rica. McGill led by 5 at 48-43 before the Miners mounted a comeback that featured a transition three from 6’4″ Isaiah Osborne, the transfer from Windsor who was playing in his first game for UTEP. Later Osborne made 1 of 2 free throws just prior to Cadougen’s pair after which McGill never trailed.
The final moments took some time to complete as Osborne missed a potential game-winning three with just 2 seconds remaining and UTEP fouled immediately. McGill missed both free throws and Miners called time-out and set up a sideline out-of-bounds play that ended in an ally-oop attempt to Osborne but the ball fell harmlessly out of play. McGill then made 1-2 free throws and UTEP missed a desperation three at the buzzer.
McGill came out on fire, hitting their first three shots – all three-pointers (two by 6’1″ Alex Paquin and one by 6’2″ Jenning Leung) – and later established a ten-point lead at 24-14 but then struggled mightly from downtown, making only two of their final 22 shots from beyond the arc. McGill shot just 5 for 26 overall and did not have a double figure scorer.
However, coach Dave DeAveiro played 10 guys between 18 and 22 minutes with Paquin leading the way with 9 points, little-used 6’5″ forward Edgar Brown with 8 and 6’2″ sophomore guard Greg Trahan with 7. Redmen held UTEP to just 3 for 13 from downtown and showed some grit coming back to take the lead for good in the final minute after the Miners came back from a late five point deficit.
The teams meet again tomorrow at 5 PM Costa Rican time (7 PM ET).
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