BOX SCORE KINGSTON, Ont. (February 1, 2014) - The Queen's men's basketball team (9-9) beat the Laurentian Voyageurs (10-9) 72-69 in a thrilling last second victory on Saturday night at the ARC in Kingston.
 
To say the last few minutes of this Laurentian-Queen's match-up was exciting would be an understatement. It was a game of  mixed emotions and sporadic scoring but it truly brought the fans at the Athletic and Recreation Centre to their feet. To sum it all up in one play: Roshane Roberts (Vaughan, Ont.) hit a game winning three-pointer to give the Gaels the lead and the final score of 72-69.
 
Queen's led 23-12 at the end of the first quarter with Nikola Misljencevic (Ottawa), Sukhpreet Singh (Toronto) and Mackenzie Simpson (Ottawa) each connecting from behind the arc. The visiting Voyageurs turned on their offense in a big way in the second quarter by going on a 19-0 run, keeping the Gaels scoreless for the first five minutes of play. The Gaels were able to climb back a bit from the loud shift in momentum by the end of the second where the score stood at 36-32 for Laurentian. Laurentian's main scorer Alex Ratte was struggling on the offensive end, but Josh Budd and Tychon Carter-Newman made up for it with their sharp shooting.
 
In third quarter, the Gaels finally started connecting on the offensive end. A lot of that was due to Patrick Street (Etobicoke, Ont.) going 3-for-3 from long range and Misljencevic continuing his persistent aggressive play. At the end of the third, the Gaels trailed 53-51.
 
The fourth quarter had the gymnasium holding their breath as both teams exchanged long-range jumpers, free throw attempts and big boards to give their teams extra possessions. Singh had two big threes while imperative boards by Street gave the Gaels extra possessions and points they needed to grab the win. With 1.4 seconds left on the clock, Roberts launched a quick three to put his squad up by 72-69. The Voyageurs could not respond and Queen's took the win.
 
Josh Budd of Laurentian led all scorers with 24 points, followed by his teammate Tychin Carter-Newman who contributed 20. Queen's had a well rounded contribution with Roberts, Singh and Street scoring 14 points apiece.

The game also marked the annual Marco W. Alessio Memorial game which is named in memory of Marco William Alessio, a former Gaels basketball player from 1987 to 1989. Mark became a teacher following his time at Queen's and he travelled the world, teaching in locations such as Hong Kong, Mexico, Spain and Madagascar. It was in Madagascar that Mark lost his life on February 23, 2009 at the age of 43 during a time of political upheaval in the African nation.

To honour Mark and to recognize how important Queen's and the basketball team were to him, a scholarship was established during the 2009-10 season in his memory. The recipient for 2013-14 is Nikola Misljencevic.

For more information and to donate please visit www.givetoqueens.ca/mbasketball

Queen's is back on the court next Friday to take on the No.2-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees at 8pm.