Bulldogs Bite Back: Belmont Overpowers Carson Graham in No Regrets Opener

Belmont Bulldogs @ Carson Graham Eagles

December 11, 2025

The cagers from Carson Graham are not often the talk of the town as far as North Shore Basketball goes. With storied basketball programs like Argyle, Handsworth, and West Van; the Eagles dynasties lie in either rugby or wrestling, especially on the women’s side of rugby. 

The Belmont Bulldogs on the other hand share division play on Vancouver Island - South with Oak Bay, and Spectrum, where every win and loss is a hard-fought battle, often contested above the rim. As the preliminary favourites in this opening round game of the No Regrets Invitational, the Belmont Bulldogs seek to prove if they’ve got that dawg in them this weekend, as the winner takes on the highly ranked St. George’s Saints.

At this spirit game for the Carson Graham Eagles, the home crowd played a huge factor in the first quarter of play. Excitement, jitters and big crowd energy kept the game at a nil-nil through the first two minutes of play. After the first five minutes of the game, #5 Anthony Temple finally got the momentum going for the Bulldogs with a big three pointer, and his teammate #8 Ryder Rajotte joined him from beyond the arc to put up some surmounting momentum against the Eagles. Not to be outdone this early on in front of their home crowd, #5 from the Eagles takes the ball to the hoop and gets fouled in the lane for a 3-point play to keep Carson within striking distance. Plenty of turnovers and good defense from both sides, turned a bit one-sided for Belmont, as they edged out the quarter on Carson Graham 17-10. 

In the first minutes of play in the second half, an assistant coach from Belmont is assessed a technical foul after emitting too much emotion from his seat on the bench on a missed foul call. The Eagles take huge advantage of this opportunity by making the free throws and capitalizing on a turnover to claw back to within one point of the visiting Islanders. This would be the closest Carson Graham would find themselves to Belmont for the rest of the night.

With some blow-for-blow play to run out Q2, the Eagles found themselves down 6 at the end of the second quarter, most notably on the shoulders of their guard #5 Perez. 

The second half would be a losing one for the home team, as Belmont’s zone defense proved to be strong. Foul trouble started to weigh on the Eagles starters and Belmont was finding their groove on the floor, running the spread up to 16 by the end of Q3. #9 Austin Bradley from Belmont had a great game on both ends of the floor, making 6 of his 16 points in Q3 as the Eagles ran out of steam. 

The fourth quarter was full of players off the benches of both teams and a bit too much aggressive play from both sides. Q4 was filled with fouls and tomfoolery. Anthony Temple from Belmont made his presence felt with another 6 points in the fourth for a total of 18 for his team in their 71-47 victory, earning him player of the game honours. The well-coached, and well-practiced side will have to prove their worth as they face St. George’s of Vancouver in the next round. 

Patrick McWade (written and edited free from the assistance of Chat GPT)

Belmont 71, Carson Graham 47

Player of the Game: Anthony Temple