Carson Graham Eagles vs. Prince George Polars

December 10, 2022

Its early Saturday and the weather is appalling but, as always, the gym is warm and dry. The Eagles are in their own gym. Will that help? Both fans hope so. Both teams have short benches but Prince George has the height advantage. Carson coaches both have tall coffees. Not sure what that says. Maybe they are just urbanites.

Carson’s Calinisan hit an uncontested 3 early on. Are they supposed to be uncontested? Meanwhile the Polars’ Kavan Varaich converts an And-1 off a layup. Then his teammate Harsh Cheema steps daintily to the basket through a crowd for a deuce. 8-3 Polars at mid Q1.

Ponytail ref calls fouls with a delivery that leaves no doubt to anyone in the as to what had just occurred. Meanwhile Coach Thornhill exhorts his boys to take the body to try and stop the slightly taller Polars. Nice lefty spin-around teardrop by Jack Brown for the northerners. Now we have a 14-3 deficit for Carson and a timeout to redirect their play. Looks like the Carson boys’ beds were more comfortable than the hotel beds as the Polars came ready to play.

Turnovers are important. Polars create them and then finish them. A made three by Brown almost hit the ceiling. Carson’s Saberi responded with his own floater but Sumners, wearing the Polars #91, often seen on wide receivers, cancelled it and then some with a three. At end of Q1 its 24-14 for Prince G. Carson had 4 points in the last 40 seconds lend some optimism to what lies ahead.

Carson started off Q2 with a bang getting 4 offensive rebounds in one visit. Then a backwards blind hook shot for 2 had the Eagles fired up. Kole Rideout has a nice touch with the ball and can make baskets in close with mini-floaters. Carson now within 6 at mid-Q2. Polars must be hungry, they keep on visiting the Danish bakery for some turnovers. See what I did there? C11 with a three that rimmed around and wanted out but sank anyway. Carson down by 3. The rim appears to be Prince George’s enemy as it continues to reject their offerings. This is how the quarter ended: 8 seconds to go, a steal by Carson’s Charlie Huntingford, new to basketball but an outstanding linebacker, for a head-on banked-in layup to make the score 29-28 Carson. That’s right Carson outscored PG 15-4 in Q2.

Halftime thought: This is, and for some reason remains, British Columbia. With that comes Prince Rupert, Prince George, Victoria, a bunch of Mount Princes etc.

Carson won the turnover battle early in Q3 but Prince George kept up and now the lead is see-sawing around a 1-point differential. Neither team owns this game…yet. The game is cooking now at 40-38 mid-Q3. But PG scores-steals-scores again for a 7-point lead padded with a Jack Brown corner 3 and a steal by him on the following play. Carson closed the gap in the last few seconds – again! Polars 49, Eagles 44 at end of Q3.

The local and visiting squads continued to battle hard in Q4, with the Polars have a modest advantage on the scoreboard but inching away – up by 9 with 8 to go. The Polars pressed but Carson broke it and scored. They aren’t done yet. But as has been a pattern in games today the team with the modest lead pulls away to a comfortable win.

Welcome to No Regrets Prince George and congrats to both teams for a well fought game.

Final score: Prince George 73, Carson Graham 59

Player of the Game: Deakon Anderson of the Prince George Polars

Prince George Polars Defeat Carson Graham Eagles on Consolation Side