MONTREAL -- Noah Daoust of Dorval, Que., came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points as seventh-ranked McGill erased an eight-point deficit to defeat visiting Laval 76-69 before a school record crowd of 1,204, Friday, in an RSEQ Final Four men's basketball semifinal, presented by Milk 2 Go Sport.

It broke the previous McGill high of 1,023 set at Love Competition Hall during the conference final against Bishop's on March 2, 2013.

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The top-seeded Redmen will carry a six-game win streak into Saturday's tournament final against UQAM, at 7 p.m. The third-seeded Citadins upset No.2 Concordia 70-63 in the evening's other semifinal. A win in the gold medal game will secure a berth at the CIS Final Eight national championship in Vancouver, B.C., Mar. 17-20.

The men's final will be preceded by the RSEQ women's final between Laval and McGill at 3 p.m. Only about 400 tickets remain for both games, and advance tickets can be purchased online.

"We we're beaten by one of the top two teams in the country, I'm convinced of that," said Laval head coach Jacques Paiement, Jr. "We've played exhibition games against top teams like Ottawa and Calgary. I think that if McGill played in Ontario or one of the other conferences that only play each team twice a season instead of the four times that we do in our league, they would be recognized among the best teams in the country... They played very well against us today, made big plays at the right time. They have role players who normally play 15-20 minutes but make big plays and could be starters on many teams."

Daoust, a 6-foot-7 centre, was named as McGill's player of the game. He shot 6-for-10 from the field -- including a spectacular 5-for-6 performance from three-point range -- and sank both his free-throw attempts. The 21-year-old industrial relations sophomore nabbed five rebounds, blocked a game-high four shots, added one assist and a steal in 23 minutes of court time.

"Noah has all the ability -- I think he's one of the most skilled big guys in the country," offered Redmen bench boss David DeAveiro, the Quebec conference coach of the year who reached the 200-game milestone in his six seasons behind the McGill bench, where he has posted a 117-83 record overall, including a 68-28 regular season mark. "He can take you inside, he can take you outside. Tonight he had the three-point shot going and he gave us a lift when we needed it. We just needed one guy to get going, then the rest of our guys could feed off his confidence, and I think that's what happened. He made a couple and then he just got on a roll and couldn't miss."

Laval led 13-8 after the first quarter, 29-27 at the half and had a 43-35 advantage with 4:17 left in the third quarter. But McGill went on an impressive 16-2 run and ended up outscoring the Rouge et Or 24-16 in the third to take a 51-45 lead, then edged Laval 25-24 in a hard-fought final frame.

"They defend really, really well," explained DeAveiro with regards to Laval's strong start. "The way their defence is predicated, you've got to make outside shots. We tried to get it inside a little bit and they started double-teaming, which (only) leaves open shots to be made. The difference in the first half was we didn't make any shots and in the second half we shot the ball at an incredible rate."

Indeed, the Redmen shot just 28.1 per cent overall and 15.4 from beyond the arc in the opening half. Those numbers improved dramatically to 53.1 and 52.6, respectively, in the second half.

"If you look at our stats this year, we're not a good three-point shooting team," said DeAveiro, whose troops ranked 45th in the nation with a 28.2 per cent success rate from the arc. "(At haltime, I said to the team that) you guys have got to shoot the ball like there's nobody in the gym right now. Just you and the rim. Shoot with confidence, believe in what you can do and reward yourselves for all the hard work you put in this year... so far."

Team captain Vincent Dufort, a physical education senior from Smiths Falls, Ont., tallied 14 points and collected six rebounds, with all of his boards in the defensive zone. He went 5-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from downtown, and was 1-for-2 from the line. He also had four assists, one block and a steal.

"Vince has been here five years," said DeAveiro of his 6-foot-4 shooting guard who was voted conference MVP in 2013-14. "He's done everything he possibly could do for our program. He's an amazing kid, and it's unfortunate the rest of the country doesn't know Vince Dufort. We ask Vince to do almost everything for us and he just embraces every challenge -- tonight he showed that. We needed him to play the point and 'Whatever you want me to do coach, I'll do it' has been his attitude since he's been here. He's a great player and an unbelievable competitor."

Dele Ogundokun of Hamilton, Ont., named RSEQ defensive player of the year for the second consecutive season, was one point shy of a "double-double" with nine points and 10 rebounds. He shot 2-for-11 from the field, including 1-for-8 on trey attempts, and was 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. He added four assists, two steals and a block.

Michael Peterkin, an economics junior from Toronto, had a productive 28 minutes off the bench, shooting 6-for-10 from the floor for a dozen points and grabbing seven rebounds. He was also credited with a game-high six assists and one blocked shot.

"He's an energy guy," said DeAveiro of his 6-foot-4 guard. "When Michael's playing with energy, I don't think there's anyone else off the bench in the country that can do the things that he can do. We've been fortunate enough to have a strong bench throughout the year with different guys we can go to and depend on. But Michael, defensively he can go out 1-to-4, he can run the break in transition. He just does a lot of things for us."

Alexandre Leclerc of Saguenay, Que., led the Rouge et Or with 19 points and received player-of-the-game honours for his side. Teammate Karl Demers-Belanger of Quebec City aded 16 and Antoine Beaumier of Trois-Rivieres, Que., registered seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.

McGill had a 41-31 rebounding advantage, a 9-4 lead in blocks and a 15-13 edge in turnovers. Both teams were credited with four steals.

The Redmen shot 40.6 per cent from the floor (26/64) and 37.5 from three-point range (12/32), bolstered by a strong second half performance. They went 12-for-17 from the free throw line. Laval shot 38.5 per cent (25/65), made eight of 21 from beyond the arc and went 11-for-14 from the stripe.

It was the fourth win in five meetings against their provincial rivals for McGill, which captured the regular season pennant with a 12-4 record. Looking ahead to the RSEQ championship match-up, the Redmen held a 3-1 record against UQAM in regular-season play but the Citadins had lost all four regular season meetings against Concordia before slaying the Stingers in the semifinal.


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