Vanier set the early tone with the urgency of a home side that knew it could not afford to chase the game. Tshizanga was dominant from the opening tip, drawing fouls and controlling the glass as the hosts raced to a 6–0 lead inside three minutes. Ahuntsic's response came slowly but surely — Fofana finished cleanly through traffic, free throws trickled in, and by the end of ten minutes the visitors had turned the deficit into a 17–12 lead. The pattern was established: Ahuntsic would win it at the line.
The second quarter was fractured and untidy, both sides gifting possessions as freely as they scored them. Verna converted back-to-back three-pointers from the top of the key to push Ahuntsic ahead by nine at 28–37, the kind of run that looked like it could break the game open. Vanier refused to fold. A fierce 5-0 closing burst — capped by Tchoukuiegno's buzzer-beating three — sent the teams to the interval separated by just three, 37–40. Both sides had scored exactly 20 points in the quarter, a statistical dead heat that matched the scrappy equality of the play.
The third quarter exposed Vanier's most uncomfortable truth. With Jeremy Lalonde Hines all but invisible offensively, the supporting cast unable to create clean looks, and Tshizanga accumulating fouls, the home attack stalled repeatedly. Azzi stepped into the vacuum, scoring six straight for Ahuntsic and directing the half-court sets with composed authority. A Ryan Azzi layup at 4:30 stretched the lead to 13 (38–51) — the biggest margin to that point — and Vanier's path back had narrowed considerably. Three-quarter time: 51–45 Ahuntsic.
The fourth quarter opened with Vanier throwing everything at the deficit. Tshizanga and Tournier combined to cut the gap to five with just under four minutes left — the closest Vanier had been since midway through the third — and a hush fell over the gym. Ahuntsic did not panic. Verna drew contact and converted, Amuri punished a loose ball with a thunderous transition dunk, and the free throw advantage that had defined the night stretched the gap beyond reach once more.
Tshizanga's fifth foul with 56 seconds remaining was the final punctuation. The game's most dangerous player had been hunted out of the contest just when his team needed him most. Ahuntsic closed the clock with clinical free throw shooting, Ryan Azzi converting four consecutive in the dying seconds to seal a 72–63 win that became a 72–60 final as the confusing live/official counts reconciled. The margin flattered Ahuntsic somewhat, but their ability to absorb Vanier's second-chance offence — 22 offensive boards to their 7 — and still win convincingly speaks to a mental toughness this team clearly possesses.
Ahuntsic cannot settle for this performance. Twenty turnovers against a side shooting under 28% is a formula for disaster against better-organised opponents, and the near-absence of a three-point threat (.188 from deep) will need addressing. Yet the free throw discipline, the shared scoring load, and a bench that contributed 10 points of quality from Fofana and Emmanuel Dadie suggest a squad with genuine options. Vanier, meanwhile, face a more fundamental question: what happens when Tshizanga fouls out, and there is no one left?
STATS - Final Score: Ahuntsic 72 — Vanier 60
- Score by Quarter: Ahuntsic 17–20–14–21 — Vanier 12–20–13–15
- Field Goals: Ahuntsic 23-50 (.460) — Vanier 20-72 (.278)
- 3-Point FG: Ahuntsic 3-16 (.188) — Vanier 4-20 (.200)
- Free Throws: Ahuntsic 23-29 (.793) — Vanier 16-27 (.593)
- Total Rebounds: Ahuntsic 36 — Vanier 40
- Offensive Rebounds: Ahuntsic 7 — Vanier 22
- Assists: Ahuntsic 15 — Vanier 9
- Turnovers: Ahuntsic 20 — Vanier 18
- Steals: Ahuntsic 9 — Vanier 12
- Blocks: Ahuntsic 1 — Vanier 4
- Fouled Out: Ahuntsic – Kevin P. Nicolas / Vanier – Randy Tshizanga
- Top Scorer – Ahuntsic: Jamall Verna 16 pts (5-8 FG, 2 3PT, 4-6 FT) / Ryan Azzi 16 pts (5-8 FG, 6-6 FT)
- Top Scorer – Vanier: Randy Tshizanga 21 pts (7-15 FG, 6-8 FT), 15 reb, 4 stl
HIGHLIGHTS - Randy Tshizanga posted 21 points and 15 rebounds — he alone accounted for 35% of Vanier's total points and more than a third of their 40 rebounds.
- Jeremy Lalonde Hines shot 1-of-12 from the field for 5 points in 26 minutes — a starting guard's performance that severely limited Vanier's ability to spread the floor.
- Vanier grabbed 22 offensive rebounds but converted only a fraction into points, a damning illustration of an offence that generated volume without efficiency.
- Cheick Fofana was perfect in his 9-minute appearance: 4-of-4 from the field for 8 points, the sharpest individual shooting performance of the night.
- Ahuntsic's 23 made free throws represented 32% of their total scoring — without that advantage, the result would have been very different.
COLOR COMMENTARY The raw numbers tell a story of radical imbalance. Vanier took more shots than Ahuntsic (72 to 50), grabbed more rebounds (40 to 36), forced more turnovers — and still lost by 12. The explanation is merciless: a .278 shooting percentage means seven out of every ten attempts missed, and no volume of offensive boards can compensate for that level of inefficiency over 40 minutes. Tshizanga's presence papered over the cracks for three quarters; when the fouls took him away, there was nothing underneath.
Ahuntsic's tactical identity in this game was unusually narrow. Only three three-pointers in 16 attempts (.188) means the perimeter threat barely existed, and 20 turnovers in a 72-possession game is a rate that elite teams will exploit without mercy. The free throw line saved them tonight — but the line is not always this generous, and the opponent is not always this inaccurate. The next level of this competition will demand more.
