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Montreal Alouettes defensive end Gabriel Knapton tackles B.C. Lions running back Jeremiah Johnson during first half CFL football action in Montreal, on July 6, 2017.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Back-up quarterback Travis Lulay ran in a touchdown with 2:43 left to play to snap a tie and lift the B.C. Lions to a 23-16 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday night.

Jeremiah Johnson scored a pair of touchdowns and Ty Long added a field goal for the Lions (2-1), who stayed east and practised in Kingston, Ont., this week with only six days since their victory last Friday in Toronto.

Tyrell Sutton had a TD and Boris Bede kicked three field goals for Montreal (1-2), which has lost their last four meetings against the Lions. The Montreal attack under new quarterback Darian Durant has yet to put up 20 points in a game.

New CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie was among the 18,728 at Percival Molson Stadium to watch the teams struggle to 6-6 tie in an uneventful first half and reach only a 9-6 score by the end of the third quarter.

B.C. started out on fire, with Jonathon Jennings leading an 11-play, 81-yard drive capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass to Johnson 5:30 into the game. The two-point convert attempt failed and the Lions didn't threaten to score the rest of the half.

Montreal needed three possessions to get a first down, but Durant began moving the ball in the second quarter. A long completion to B.J. Cunningham with a roughing the passer call put the ball on the B.C. 30. Three plays later, Bede was good from 29 yards at 7:42.

A 31-yard completion to Ernest Jackson helped set up Bede's 51-yard field goal at 13:24.

A successful Lions challenge for pass interference that wiped out a Montreal interception by Tyree Hollins seemed to ignite the B.C. attack as Jennings took the ball 73 yards on 13 plays, but they settled for Long's 13-yard field goal at 12:26 of the third.

Montreal marched back and Bede tied it at 9-9 with a 45-yard boot 34 seconds into the fourth quarter.

A pass interference call in the end zone against Hollins gave B.C. the ball on the one and Johnson ran it in at 3:35.

The Alouettes came back to the B.C. five, but it looked to be for naught when Tony Burnett picked off a pass and ran it all the way back, only to have it nullified by a pass interference call behind the play against Ronnie Yell. Montreal got the ball on the two, where Sutton ran it in at 7:35.

B. C. answered straight back, helped by a 37-yard catch by Shaquille Johnson, and Lulay came in to score the winning points.

Alouettes kick returner Stefan Logan left late in the first quarter with an injury.

Montreal linebacker Chip Cox played his 200th game.

The CFL’s new commissioner says the market for Canadian football in Toronto needs to be rebuilt 'brick by brick.' Randy Ambrosie replaces Jeffrey Orridge, who resigned last month.

The Canadian Press

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