Corner Brook -
One team had yet to win, while the other was still undefeated.
Despite that, the Corner Brook Men's Basketball League game between first-place Steers Insurance and last-place West Side Monarchs at the old Regina High gymnasium on Thursday night was as competitive as it gets.
Sure, when the dust settled Steers (9-0) kept their record unblemished and the Monarchs (0-8) again walked off the floor on the wrong end of the score, but the 86-78 score was closer than anybody could have anticipated.
"They started out really strong ... they were leading after the first quarter by nine or 10 points," said Steers' Mark Tavenor. "We came back and really won the game in the fourth quarter.
"They played really good, they were making all their outside shots," he continued. "They have a good team there, they just haven't had all their players show up for the most part this year."
Tavenor was pleased with how his team stepped up in the face of adversity against a surprisingly motivated Monarchs team.
"We started taking the ball to the basket more in the second half and started making our outside shots," he said. "That was the difference in the fourth quarter."
Sean Mitchell, one of the few Monarchs players that seems to show up for each and every game, said it's not easy to pump yourself up to play when the result is almost a foregone conclusion, but Thursday night's game provided a much-needed confidence boost.
"It's probably the best game we've played so far," he said. "We've been hurting for players all year long, but we had a full crew here tonight and this was really a measuring stick for us because Steers is one of the strongest teams in the league. With eight or nine bodies here it made it a lot easier because you don't have to run a full game with just five players.
"We hung in there, but we had a few turnovers towards the end of the game," he added. "Once it got down to the two-minute mark we had to start fouling them. It was 84-78, so basically that was four or five points on free throws that made the difference."
Despite another defeat, Mitchell believes brighter days are ahead for the gold and black, as long as the Thursday night head count wasn't an anomaly.
"If we're getting bodies out on a regular basis it shouldn't be long before we start winning some games," he said. "We just have to get used to playing with each other.
"It's tough," he added, of losing repeatedly. "We're getting older, but the competitiveness is still there. Winning isn't everything though, if it was we'd be quit long ago."
The other scheduled encounter between Kohler and Jasper Kitchen and Bath was postponed to a later date.
