The holiday break is over. The Fulton Maroons appear to be in Game On mode for their 18th annual Maroon Corporate Classic.
Ike Olson registered 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Maroons mauled the host Seaton Sonics 75-50 in North Zone Senior AA Boys Basketball League play Tuesday night.
Caden Doyle rang up 14 points and nine boards, while Nate Banga dialed a dozen points, seven rebounds and five steals.
Fulton opens the Classic today at 3:30 against the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops. The Sonics go up against the South Okanagan Hornets of Oliver at 5 p.m. Corporate sponsors are: Tim Hortons, Buy-Low Foods, Subway and Papa John’s Pizza.
“It should be one of the most competitive classics in a few years,” said Fulton coach Dale Olson, whose club is ranked No. 9 in B.C. “Our pool has the No. 8 ranked AAA Duchess Park Condors and the very tough Sa-Hali and Elliot teams. In the other pool, we have the No. 2 ranked AA Westsyde Whundas, a strong AAA DP Todd team and Seaton and SOSS. Should be a very good tourney with some great pool games all weekend.”
Said Sonic coach Kent Burnham on Tuesday’s league tilt: “We played a very tough Fulton team tonight and went down. Our centre, Nick Maglio, was huge for us. He had 17 points and eight rebounds. He was a force on defence blocking three and altering several more. Trent Graham had 16 points after being sidelined with a cut to his scalp that will require stitches. Doctor Secretan tied his hair together to close the wound and cleared him to play once we got the bleeding stopped. Gritty effort from Trent. Noah Schenider and Landen Harison each added six.”
In other Thursday tournament action, the Westsyde Whundas of Kamloops meet the Trojans of Prince George at 6:30, while the Duchess Park Condors of Prince George tangle with the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country at 8 p.m.
There are eight games Friday with Fulton squaring off against Duchess Park at 1:30 and taking on Elliot at 7:30. Seaton meets DP Todd at 9 a.m. and battle Westsyde at 4:30.
The championship final goes Saturday at 2:15 p.m.
“Our team is starting to jell as we get more fit,” said Olson. “Coming off a long football season, the boys have taken a bit to build up their cardio as most of them played football and are multi-sport athletes. Our strengths are definitely our physicality. We have good size and like to play hard-nosed defence and like to go get rebounds. Our offence is really coming along nicely right now and we are starting to climb the peak to get ready for playoffs in February.”