UVa Ends Canadian Trip With 88-83 Loss To McGill
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MONTREAL, CanadaMoustafa El Zanaty scored a game-high 30 points to lead McGill University to an 88-83 victory over Virginia in an exhibition game on Sunday (Aug. 31).
It was the final game of a three-game weekend (Aug. 30-31) exhibition trip to Canada for the Cavaliers. UVa defeated St. Lawrence College (107-60) and Concordia University (85-70) in exhibition games on Saturday (Aug. 30). McGill lost to Kansas 72-67 in a Saturday exhibition game.
Virginia led 80-75 with 3:02 left in Sunday’s game with McGill before the Redmen outscored the Cavaliers 13-3 the rest of the way. McGill took the lead for good at 81-80 with 1:06 left on two free throws by El Zanaty. He scored eight points in the final McGill run and went 6-6 from the free throw line in the last 1:06 of the game.
Calvin Baker and Jeff Jones each scored 18 points to lead the Cavaliers. Sammy Zeglinski added 11 points and Jerome Meyinsse 10 for Virginia.
McGill led by as many as 13 points in the first half and led by eight (44-36) with 3:46 left in the half. UVa then went on a 12-1 run to take a 48-45 lead at halftime. Baker scored the last six points in the Virginia run.
The Cavaliers led by as many as eight points early in the second half and held the lead until the Redmen scored five consecutive points to forge a 74-74 tie with 4:58 left in the game. Virginia regained the lead on a basket by Meyinsse and after McGill’s Sean Anthony made a free throw, baskets by Jamil Tucker and Jones built the Cavaliers’ lead to 80-75. The Redmen then began their game-winning run.
“Any time you compete, the object is to win,” said Virginia head coach Dave Leitao. “McGill played well and I congratulate them on the victory. Over this weekend we’d obviously rather win than lose, but in the case of this trip, I probably coached a little differently. I was coaching to get better as a team and to find some things out. As a result of this game, we can identify areas we need to work on and when we get started in October work on those areas to be sure by the time we get to the season we’ve shored those things up.”
McGill made 13 three-point field goals in the game, including six by El Zanaty. Virginia made six three-point field goals.
Matt Thornhill added 17 points and Anthony 16 for McGill.
“I think with just about every team that takes a trip like this there’s as much off the court that you want to do,” Leitao said. “It was good to get the guys in situations where they bonded and to understand the meaning of living outside of their box a little bit more. In any team structured atmosphere you have to be able to give and get. I think as much as anything, having these 10 days of practice and a weekend trip, away from what happens on the court was very beneficial and something that will hopefully carry over into the season.”