On Fan Appreciation night, a sold-out crowd of 5,504 at 91原创 Events Centre watched Vancouver Bandits cruise to a 106-74 victory over Winnipeg in a potential Championship Weekend preview on Sunday (Aug. 3).
Mitch Creek and Tyrese Samuel paced the Vancouver attack with a combined 51 points.
Creek netted a game-high 27 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. Meanwhile, Samuel flirted with a double-double, scoring 24 points to go along with nine rebounds.
Zach Copeland complemented the frontc ourt with consistent outside shooting, contributing 19 points as well.
Vancouver improves its record to 17-5 on the season and maintains its spot atop the Western Conference with the Calgary Surge in pursuit.
鈥淭he west is not the east," commented Bandits head coach Kyle Julius. "We've got [17] wins and we're biting and clawing to finish this thing out on top. So the West is a beast over here, and it's serious, and I'm proud that we're at the top of it for sure,鈥�
Vancouver forced 19 Winnipeg turnovers, leading to 24 points. The Bandits鈥� defence also sparked the transition offence, outscoring the Sea Bears 27-4 on the fast break.
Vancouver claims the regular season series against Winnipeg after splitting the first two games.
Up next, Bandits hit the road for the final two games of the regular season with a matchup against Scarborough next Friday (Aug. 8) first on the agenda, followed a Sunday match against Ottawa.
