Bandits host Alliance in Season’s First Cross-Conference Clash

Cross-conference bragging rights will be on the line Thursday night when the Montréal Alliance take on the Vancouver Bandits in the first East vs. West showdown of the CEBL season.

Action tips off from Langley Events Centre at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. local with live coverage available on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN+ and on the CEBL mobile app available for iOS and Android devices. It will also be televised nationally on Game+ outside North America and available on NLSE in the United States. 

As teams in opposite conferences and opposite ends of Canada, there’s little history between the two franchises. They’ve matched up just three times prior to Thursday, and it was the Alliance that came out victorious in their lone contest last season, winning by a narrow five-point margin. That one game may not hold much stock however as both teams enter 2024 with revamped rosters and a lot to prove. 

Montréal, for instance, is this season’s host city for Championship Weekend and although that means an automatic spot in the Eastern Conference Finals, it also brings a weight of expectations. Entering the postseason one game shy of a title shot is an exciting prospect for the Alliance considering they’ve never even qualified for a postseason berth before this season. Yet opponents out East may not mind Montréal standing in their way if the team can’t improve from their league-worst 7-13 record from a season ago.

Last year the Alliance were rolling out a bottom-two offence (82 points per game) and bottom-three defence (87.6 points against) on a nightly basis. So, if they don’t want to be viewed as easy pickings by the rest of the East, they’ll have to show they’ve gotten better. And to their credit, Montréal has made moves in the offseason to try and do just that.

Starting by adding a pair of import forwards, Jordan Bowen and Chris Smith, to inject some scoring. Bowen was a standout at Tennessee scoring over 1,300 points for the Volunteers throughout his collegiate career and brings four years of NBA G League experience. Meanwhile, Smith brings three years of his own G League experience after a successful NCAA career with UCLA that likely would’ve gotten him drafted into the NBA had his final season not been cut short by injury.

Both Americans will likely slot into the starting lineup and take some of the scoring load off Ahmed Hill, the team’s leading scorer in 2023 (20.4 points per game). The All-CEBL second team member carried most of the offensive burden on his shoulders for the Alliance, and that made things much easier for opponents to scout and defend. Although Hill was third in the league for scoring last season, he’ll surely sacrifice some of his points this year if it means the team can threaten defences with a more balanced attack. 

Returning to the backcourt with Hill will likely be Alain Louis. The 2022 second overall pick in the CEBL U SPORTS draft filled in admirably as a starter the 11 times his number was called upon last season. Louis averaged 9.3 points and averaged 5.5 assists, fourth most in the CEBL in 2023.

That final starting spot is where intrigue lies for Montréal as there are a few options to consider. They could stick with hometown product Elijah Ifejeh who’s returning for a third season with the Alliance and can add size with his 6-foot-8 frame. Montréal was second last in rebounding last year (36.2 per game) so Ifejeh alongside 6-foot-9 Smith could be a way of improving their fortunes on the glass. 

Or they could slot in skilled 3-and-D specialist Maxime Boursiquot. Also a Montréal native entering his third year in the CEBL, Boursiquot was vital for the Ottawa BlackJacks’ last season. His 5.8 points per game and 3.8 rebounds may not stand out but they don’t paint a full picture. Boursiquot shot over 53 per cent from the field, 47 per cent from three and played in all 20 of Ottawa’s regular season games. His hyper-efficiency on offence was often matched by the fact he would typically guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player. If the Alliance want to prioritize fixing their defence, having a two-way achor like Boursiquot is a good place to start.

Another intriguing player to keep an eye on is Jahenns Manigat. The Montréal native is returning home after spending his first two CEBL seasons with game one opponent, Vancouver. Manigat made 23 appearances for the Bandits over that span, 15 of which came last year. It’ll be interesting to see how much the Alliance rely upon the 32-year-old as they matchup against his former squad. 

On the other side, the Bandits didn’t fare much better in 2023. If there’s a team that understands Montréal’s excitement as hosts and the challenges that title presents, it’s Vancouver. As last year’s host city, the Bandits entered the postseason with an 8-12 record following a regular season marred by complacency. 

The team was definitely talented -- as evidenced by the two-game win streak Vancouver took into the playoffs and then nearly upsetting the Surge in the Conference Finals -- but couldn’t get away from their bad habits. Vancouver led the league in turnovers last season, the only team to give the ball away over 16 times a game on average. All those freebies also meant they gave up plenty of easy points, hence why they were the second weakest defence (89 points against per game). 

Fans watching the Bandits this year ought to hope that without the pressures of being host city, the team can bounce back, work their way to the postseason and avoid missing the playoffs for just the second time since in franchise history.

And to their credit, Vancouver had put in the work to improve their roster heading into 2024. Starting with the addition of Koby McEwen, a former Brampton Honey Badger, who’ll bring that surehandedness the Bandits lacked all of last season. The 2022 champion was a workhorse for the Honey Badgers last year averaging 13.7 points (second on Brampton), 5.4 assists (fifth in CEBL) while leading the league in free throw percentage (82 per cent). Adding a guard with that kind of pedigree and CEBL experience of McEwen immediately upgrades the Bandits’ backcourt from where it was a season ago.

What also makes adding the former Sixth Man of the Year so enticing for Vancouver is the pairing it creates with Nick Ward. The 2021 All-CEBL first team member played his first season with the Bandits last year and once again asserted himself as one of the league’s top big men. Ward averaged 18.7 points per game (seventh in the CEBL), 7.8 rebounds (eighth) and led the league with 62.2 per cent shooting from the field through 19 appearances in 2023.

The Bandits’ team MVP was instrumental in the little success they had last year as Ward spearheaded the league’s second-best rebounding team (42.1 rebounds per game). He’ll surely be leaned on once again to dominate the glass for Vancouver but at least Ward will have the luxury of a dynamic pick-and-roll partner in McEwen to work with to create more scoring.

Speaking of offence, the Bandits made sure to add plenty of it throughout the offseason. Beginning with a duo of American guards Zach Copeland and Tazé Moore. Copeland is coming off a stellar season with Bamberg Baskets of the German Basketball Bundesliga where he averaged 17.7 points on 37.8 per cent three-point shooting. His prolific outside shooting is sure to help a Vancouver squad that ranked third-worst from beyond the arc in 2023 (31.6 per cent). Meanwhile, Moore brings NBA and NBA G League experience in his first CEBL season. In 22 games with the Rip City Remix (Portland’s G League affiliate), the import averaged 15.6 points, 7.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds.

It won’t just be new additions fans should be excited to see come Thursday night, there will also be a long-anticipated reunion. James Karnik returns to the lineup after a stellar debut CEBL season in 2022 and then missing all of 2023 due to injury. The B.C. product was second on the Bandits for scoring and rebounding in his lone season in the league averaging 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds. 

“Making my professional debut with my hometown team in front of family and friends was pretty special in 2022,” said Karnik in anticipation of his return this year. “Now, as I make my comeback from an injury that negated my 2023 season, I can’t wait to show off the work that I put in the offseason to come back better and stronger, as well as reaching my high expectations for the team and my personal goals.”

“I know it will be an electric atmosphere at (Langley Events Centre) and I am excited to play in front of the amazing fans.”