As a show of respect to Travis Osborne, Marion Harris, Chris Leonard and all Tar Heel Basketball 🏀 fans : Our Roundball Report in a Four Corners format !!

Corner #1 – The photo 📷 above shows the schedule for both the Varsity and Junior Varsity Cavaliers on Monday as the teams continue play in the Fort Chiswell Christmas tournament.

On the flight ✈️ from St. George to Phoenix this morning 🌄, I 🖊🖋 a game story on the Varsity game but I didn’t have the thought process of Head Coach Anthony Barnes yet. I have it now and will share it with our readers.

” Narrows returns the favor , they are well rounded and coached well as always. We continue to come out cold with no energy or intensity and dig ourselves a hole. I feel like we really turned it up in the third taking a 5 point lead, then the lost #1 and # 4 for them and they knocked down some big 3’s at the end. Game was very physical and we left some close shots and layups on the table.

Usually when you put 3 guys in double digits you win, but with both teams evenly matched it comes down to stops, and execution and shots falling and it just didn’t happen for us in last 2 minutes of the game. Tough tournament to win any year, get up dust ourselves off and tip 5:30 against Bland and get after it. Go CAVS !”

Bland had a rough time versus Radford in their opening round contest, falling 88-19.

Carroll County JV Boys 👦play in their side of the tournament as well on Monday.

Let’s fill up the Gymnasium at The Fort !

Corner #2 – Alyssa Ervin and her Paladin teammates performed in a manor today down in the Swamp ( Florida) that kept them in the ball game until the fourth quarter.

Florida would eventually pull away but our All-Time scoring leader had herself a strong performance in her second start.

18 points across 33 minutes with two other numbers that popped. 5 rebounds and shooting 50% from the field = well rounded effort for our Sophomore !

Furman University returns home on Tuesday night for a game versus Brevard. Keep working 💪hard and keep smiling !!

Corner #3 : Kira Lawson led the Lady Blue Devils to a fourth straight victory on Sunday up in Syracuse. SU entered the contest with an 11-1 mark and home court advantage but Duke overcame an early deficit to secure the victory. After playing five of the Top Six teams in the Country, Duke is now over .500 and will host Boston College on New Years Day.

Phil Ford holding up four fingers back in the pre – shot clock ⏰ days, the 4th quarter belongs to New Mexico State University and its Pan American Center.

The Aggies Men were hosting the University of the Southwest ( Mustangs) and the home team hung on for a 104 – 33 victory.

The 12,482 seat 💺 Arena has two very significant banners hanging from the rafters and both are tied to the legendary Lou Henson. Henson also coached at the University of Illinois.

Lou passed away back in 2020 at the age of 88 with 41 of those years spent on a Basketball court. The floor at NMSU has Lou’s name on it !

Here’s Coach Smith and the Goat 🐐 ➕ Matt Doherty.

Don’t play scared might have been the message from Coach as Furman invades the Swamp! Our Lady 👩 Cavalier drew another starting assignment…

Furman University took the floor and started shooting and playing in your grill defense against the Gators. They lead 6-4 and were still tied at 14 – 14 at the end of the 1st quarter !

Alyssa Ervin had four points and three rebounds before the first Media TO and that was with a made 3-pointer waved off after an offensive foul by a fellow Paladin.

At the break, Furman University is sill within fighting 💪 distance at 40 – 35, surviving a big Gator run to start the second quarter.

16 points and 4 rebounds late in the 3rd and still chasing !!!

More to follow in a bit….

SEC Network is 📺📺📺 the place to watch…

33 minutes, 18 points, 50% shooting and 5 rebounds !!!

At some point during our flight ✈️ to El Paso, something special will take place on our Site….100k/ 1/4 Million over the two years !!!!!

Here inside of the hour , someone will click on a story that is designed to make someone smile 😃 and will push two numbers across thresholds of significance, at least to me.

100,000 for the calendar year and a quarter of a Million over a two year span !!!!

The idea 💡 of creating a safe zone where we can tell positive stories about our friends and neighbors in a non- Social Media forum……

Thank You to EVERYONE who helps me create the content because we couldn’t do it without you ❤.

Time to board the flight ✈️ and I will finish up the Varsity gamer on the other end once we have landed. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Slightly down from last year but still in six digits with 3+ days to go.

The more things change, the more they stay the same is the theme that goes with Narrows 69, Carroll County 65 on Saturday night 🌙…

The Fort – Carroll County High School fell short at the end of the late game on Saturday night at Fort Chiswell, dropping a 69 – 65 decision to Narrows. The setback sends the Cavaliers into the consolation bracket of the annual Christmas tournament hosted by the Pioneers.

Carroll County (3-3) took the floor as the Back 2 Back Champions but with a much different lineup than the previous years. Head Coach Anthony Barnes experienced six Seniors graduating last season and on that note we start the We’ve seen this story before phase of our story.

It was just three years ago when veteran Girls Coach Marc Motley watched his six Seniors, who also had played Basketball together most of their lives, graduate 🎓.

Motley returned Alyssa Ervin back then and would need four role players to step up and become starters. Enter Madison Lyons, Sarah Alderman, Katie Lam and Callie Harris. Ervin led the way and Motley coached up that team to a third straight State Tournament.

The challenge for Barnes is to build a team around Isaiah Easter and do so in a manner that will lead the team to a second straight State Tournament appearance.

While Motley had players who were already on the Varsity team that just needed to play bigger roles, Barnes will be counting on a number of players with zero Varsity experience prior to the season opener.

Last round of tying the story together comes with there being both a Motley and Easter in the mix once again. Big Sister Kaylee Easter and Coach turned proud Father, Marc Motley are playing the roles of Cheerleaders while Easter and freshman Will Motley take center stage.

The start Saturday night might have been as sad of seven minutes felt by the Cavaliers under the guidance of Barnes. Carroll County trailed 18 – 3 and had more fouls than points scored. Motley pumped life back into the effort by nailing a 3-pointer just before the end of the first quarter. The Cavs still trailed 19 – 6 after 8:00 but there were signs of life in the stands and on the bench.

Colton Gravley, one of the new faces on the team this season, did his best to get CCHS back in the game by halftime. Gravley scored 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter to lead the team to a 17-10 ,advantage. The Cavaliers still trailed but by just six at 29 – 23!

Barnes took his team into the lockeroom and pushed the right buttons. The team hit the court running 🏃‍♂️ and by the time the dust settled, Carroll County had gone from down 15 to up nine (44-35). The run of 21-6 was nothing short of near flawless Basketball and a number of players contributed key 🔑 minutes.

Easter started the second half with just six points and finished up with a team high 25. The first thing that stuck out was the transition game as the Cavaliers are at their best when they are turning defense into offense.

Motley picked his spots to launch 3-pointers and when the dust settled the shooting guard 💂‍♂️had connected five times, including one step back beauty. Motley joined Gravley with 15 points, giving Carroll County a trio of double figure scorers..

Blake Reed and Trace Reavis both added four points from their spots on the floor while Kyle Bunn, Eli Lark and Hayden Jackson each contributed in key 🔑 spots of the contest.

Narrows responded with two runs of their own and managed to pull back ahead by five points as they continued to bombard CCHS with 3-pointers and blocked 🚫 shots. The interior defense was their strong suit as they corralled nine blocks on the night.

Two things that will challenge the Cavaliers this season will be size and streak shooting. Narrows possessed both of those last night and while there wasn’t a flurry of points next to Reavis in the scorebook, know that the Senior was banging around inside on both ends of the floor from start to finish. Gravley took his share as well, to the point of needing stitches today.

Carroll County suffered an unfortunate dry spell down the stretch that led to five straight empty possessions. The Cavs were getting great looks but nothing would drop and this led to a 65 – 65 tie becoming a 69 – 65 setback.

Carroll County JV Basketball is also looking to defend its title under new Coach Ryan Phillips. The Cavaliers took a step in the right direction with a 38 – 31 victory over Narrows.

Both teams still have two more games to play beginning on Monday afternoon. The Varsity team will face Bland at 5:30 pm while the Junior Varsity team plays at 2:45 pm.

***** Still need to add the thoughtso of Head Coach Anthony Barnes to the story. Just landed in Phoenix and have a short layover before the next flight ✈️ to El Paso. Will finish up shortly.

This team will get there, no doubt about it !

Thank You to Samantha Lark – Smith, Bill Gallimore and Kevin DeHaven for his assistance with the JV results…

It’s time for the Sunday Morning 🌄 Brew on a Day that is set to include Flights ✈️, a trio of Basketball 🏀 games and writing ✍ a Gamer for Anthony Barnes and our Cavaliers…

Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day:

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

The four shades 😎 of Basketball 🏀 today will be a nice mix of writing, watching 👀 on line( Furman Women) watching in person ( New Mexico State Men ) and keeping up with from a distance ( Duke Women).

Yesterday at Fort Chiswell, the Junior Varsity Cavaliers edged Narrows during the afternoon and the Varsity team fell 69-65 in the eighth game of the day. I have all of my notes 📝 from the day and later they will get wrapped around the thoughts of Head Coach Anthony Barnes.

For the third time this season, Alyssa Ervin and Furman University (6-6) is set to play a road game inside a SEC Gymnasium as the Paladins travel down to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators. Depending upon your time zone, tip is set for 2pm Eastern and available to watch on the SEC Network.

At 7:30 am, we begin the trek over to El Paso, Texas in preparation for the Duke University Bowl 🥣 game on New Years Eve against Arizona State University.

This is relevant to the day in that the game story for Carroll County will get written across the two flights ✈️ over this morning.

Kira Lawson and Duke University Women’s Basketball 🏀 team is set to play todsy against an 11-1 Syracuse team up in the Dome. Duke, like Furman, sits at 6-6 and looks to get above .500 on the season but will face an uphill battle

The in-person Basketball 🏀 comes in the form of the Men’s team at New Mexico State at 3pm Mountain ⛰ time. In years past when Duke made it to a Bowl 🥣 game it was a quick get there and get back type of trip.

This year, with the challenges that Medication presents, it will be a five day/ four night loop. That is how Lacruses, New Mexico enters the mix.

Let’s take just a minute to say 👏👏👏 to the University of Virginia (11-3) for winning their 11th football game and a season for the first time in the schools history last night in Jacksonville !!!

https://augustafreepress.com/news/gator-bowl-blog-live-updates-throughout-the-day-from-jacksonville/

As Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story about Sunday, December 28th !

Have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌