Vancouver Bandits continued to rule the west, setting a new franchise single-game scoring record in a 121-105 victory over the Edmonton Stingers on Friday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
Vancouver鈥檚 win assures it would finish no worse than second in the Western Conference, while being guaranteed a home playoff game.
The Bandits can now fall no further than second in the West. They lead the conference at 16-5 on the season.
鈥淲e trust ourselves down the stretch because we are fierce, we are strong, we are trained mentally, physically, spiritually at a very high level. That鈥檚 what the Bandits do,鈥� said captain Mitch Creek.
After a tightly contested first half, the Bandits trailed by one point early in the third quarter. Then, head coach Kyle Julius called a timeout.
And in the blink of an eye, Vancouver and its quick-strike offence had built a 15-point lead.
鈥淛ust challenged them. We鈥檝e been doing it all year,鈥� Julius said of his message during the timeout. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to say too much to this group. We have great leadership. Our leaders really did a lot of talking in that timeout, especially Mitch, but yeah, it sparked our guys.鈥�
The Stingers fought back to get within six, but when the clocks stopped for Target Score Time, the Bandits led 112-101.
Vancouver ended the proceedings quickly, capped by a game-winning three-pointer from Duane Notice.
The Bandits鈥� previous single-game scoring record was 113, set in July 2020.
Creek led the way with a whopping 35 points to go with nine rebounds. He credited the coaching staff for juicing the offence.
鈥淚 thought some of the plays that we had put in got us some really easy, cheap buckets and that鈥檚 what basketball鈥檚 about. It鈥檚 trying to play chess a few moves ahead, 10 moves ahead, and the other coaches try to do the same thing. I just thought that we were a few moves ahead tonight,鈥� Creek said.
Guard Zach Copeland contributed 27 points and seven rebounds, Tyrese Samuel had 17 points and nine rebounds in just 20 minutes before he was ejected for a second technical, Kyle Mangas scored 16 points and Shamar Givance pitched in with 12.
Vancouver ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run to go up 31-25 after 10 minutes. A high-scoring first half ended with the Bandits leading 60-57.
Then, the Bandits went on that riveting third-quarter run, and led 97-81 before the final frame had even begun. The Stingers threatened in the fourth, but the Bandits shut them down yet again.
Next up, Bandits host Winnipeg Sea Bears at 91原创 Events Centre on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 5 p.m.
