Hank Barker is a fourth year Sports Marketing/Journalist student at Camosun College interning with ISN, this is his first story for ISN.
The Camosun Chargers Basketball teams were set to host the Douglas Royal in a double
header this past Friday night at PISE Interurban, with the Women’s team at 6pm and the Men’s team at 8pm. These contested marked the final regular season game for four Camosun Chargers Seniors; Teagan Michel, Chelsea Espenberg from the Women’s team and Austin and Calvin Somers from Men’s team.
It’s no surprise that Camosun was selected to host the PACWEST tournament final next
month on March 2-4th as they have a beautiful home facility. Walking into my first game, the
music heard loudly on the speakers mainly featured Hip Hop and RnB similar to what you would find at an NBA game. Although, you are not able to have a beer while you take in the contest as the facility is not licensed. Concessions are open to grab a slice of pizza, snacks and sodas as you get ready to cheer on the local teams. The Chargers teams could always benefit from more student support at our games.
The initial attendance was modest at the Women’s early game with around a hundred
people, though the energy from both teams’ sidelines was strong. The Chargers Women’s team established a fast pace early on in the game with an aggressive full court press and showcasing their ability to intercept passes. On offence they moved the ball well and were not afraid to continually fire three pointers. The officials seemed hesitant to blow their whistles with a ‘let them play’ style throughout the game. Despite some nervous moments in the 4th quarter the Chargers held on to beat the Royals 60-57 which leaves both Camosun and Douglas with a 9-7 record on the year.
In between games the Men’s and Women’s head coaches took time to share the stories of their senior athletes, highlighting their contributions to the team, their outstanding character, and wishing them success in their futures.
The fan attendance for the late game really ramped up as did the atmosphere, nearly
reaching three hundred fans. The Chargers Men’s team had no trouble pushing the ball down the court and creating scoring chances, though they struggled heavily to convert those chances into points. The contest was hard fought, and building frustration was visible amongst both players and coaches. In the 4th quarter a Douglas coach was ejected from the game after repeatedly having words for a member of the officiating staff. After the Chargers pulled out a 67-56 Victory over the Douglas Royals, the frustration carried over as a number of Royals players exchanged words with the Camosun student body. The Camosun Charger’s improved to a 10-5 record with a firm grasp of the number 2 seed in the PACWEST standings.
During the opposing teams’ free throws you could hear a pin drop in the gym, which
was strange for basketball games as this is typically an opportunity for the fans to cheer and impact the focus of the shooting player. Going forward we need more Camosun students coming out to the games to support the teams, it’s a great time, a chance to meet people outside of the classroom, and who couldn’t use a break from studying. Especially when the Chargers are winning games and putting in the effort like they did Friday night.
