Bandits Mitch Creek and Tyrese Samuel Headline 2025 CEBL Award Nominees

Vancouver Bandits forward Tyrese Samuel was named the CEBL's Player of the Week, the league announced today. This marks the first weekly honour of Samuel's CEBL career, and the third received by a Bandits player this season ( Mitch Creek: August 4, 2025 and Zach Copeland: July 14, 2025 ). Creek averaged 32.5 points, 17.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocks while shooting 74.3 per cent from the field across two games during the final week of the CEBL season; the Bandits went 2-0 during that stretch. On August 8, Samuel scored a game-high 32 points with 18 rebounds and 14-for-21 shooting from the field in a 102-95 road win in Scarborough. On August 10, Samuel recorded 33 points, 17 rebounds, five assists on 15-for-18 field shooting.

The Vancouver Bandits will host the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) Western Conference Semifinal. This single-elimination playoff game will tip off on Saturday, August 16th at 12:30 PM PT at Langley Events Centre (LEC). Single game tickets start as low as $20 per person and are on sale now at this link . Vancouver secured home court advantage by finishing first place in the Western Conference with a 19-5 record, good for first place overall in the CEBL and the best regular season finish in franchise history. LEC was also the setting for 10 Bandits wins this summer, including seven sold-out games, tying the record for most home wins in a single CEBL regular season. Saturday will be the first time in two years that LEC will host a playoff game, with the Bandits previously playing in the 2023 CEBL Western Conference Final. This also marks the sixth-straight postseason appearance for the club, dating back to the 2020 season. The Bandits will await the winner of the CEBL Western Conference Play-In Game, which takes place on Thursday, August 14 between the second-seeded Calgary Surge and third-seeded Edmonton Stingers. The winner of the Western Conference Semifinal will advance to 2025 Championship Weekend (CW25) to face the host team, the Winnipeg Sea Bears. The four-team CW25, hosted this year at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, features a Conference Finals doubleheader on Friday, August 22, followed by the CEBL Championship Final on Sunday, August 24. The CEBL Western Conference Semifinal, along with all CEBL playoff games, will air nationally on TSN and can also be streamed for free on plus.CEBL.ca . For full details on the CEBL playoff format, visit cebl.ca/playoffs .

With both teams having their playoff seeding locked in coming into the game, the Vancouver Bandits and Ottawa BlackJacks didn’t have much to play for other than giving the fans a show. That’s precisely what they did. The Bandits set a CEBL scoring record since the introduction of Target Time, and the teams combined for the second-highest scoring CEBL game ever when Vancouver downed Ottawa 130-112. Mitch Creek and Tyrese Samuel led the way for the road team, with Creek scoring a game-high 36 points while Samuel added 33 to go with 17 rebounds. Shamar Givance scored a CEBL career-high 22 points along with eight assists, while Kyle Mangas and Zach Copeland both had 12. “We have a group of guys that are super competitive,” Bandits head coach Kyle Julius said of his team. “We have a drill that we practice that nobody wants to do, but as soon as they start doing it, they start competing and talking trash and getting after it. So, we said that’s what today was: today was going to be that drill. As soon as that ball was tipped, they just competed. For me, I told them I’m proud to work with them. They’re a competitive group; they’re a great group of guys. To them, I don’t think there’s any game in the world that wouldn’t mean anything. They want to play and compete.” Both teams came out setting the pace immediately. Vancouver built up a 21-9 lead before Ottawa stormed back with a 13-5 run of their own to cut the deficit to four. The squads would continue trading baskets – each seemingly unable to stop the other – until the Bandits took a 73-62 lead into halftime. That score by the Bandits is the second highest halftime total in the CEBL’s history, trailing only the then-Guelph Nighthawks record of 75 in 2019. It seemed that no matter what the BlackJacks would do, the Bandits would find a way to get the ball into either Creek or Samuel’s hand and get a basket. While the home team never went away, often cutting the lead down to single digits throughout the entirety of the contest, those two players made sure the outcome was never in question. “Tyrese is an incredible kid. Probably one of the more coachable players I’ve ever had,” Julius said. “He wants to get better, his work ethic is incredible. I think he’ll play in the NBA and I think it will be sooner rather than later. I’m proud that he chose to come play with us and work with us. He leads by example. The guys love him. When he’s out there playing like he did tonight, we’ll be tough to beat. “Mitch is by far and away the best player and leader that I’ve ever had,” he added. “He’s amazing. His game, the way he treats his teammates, the way he respects the process, the way he takes care of himself … he cares about his teammates. I don’t know what’s better, his personality or his game. He’s an exceptional player, teammate and person.” “It would be really easy for me to sit here and talk about how we didn’t play defense, but understanding the game and the season that we’ve had … Today was more about getting through the game and staying healthy, giving some other people more opportunities,” BlackJacks head coach Dave DeAveiro said. “Would I had liked to see us play better defense? Of course. I thought we did a really good job of offensive shooting. But there’s different things you can take away from this game; Justin (Ndjock-Tadjore)’s growth, Alvin (Icyogere) getting an opportunity, giving some guys a little bit more of a run than we normally would.” Ndjock-Tadjore had a coming out game in the regular season finale, tying for the team lead in points with 19. Javonte Smart was the other player to reach the mark. Deng Adel had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Keevan Veinot had 15 points, and team captain Tyrell Tate had 13. “It’s been a roller coaster of a season,” said Adel, whose driving layup early in the third quarter saw him become the tenth player in CEBL history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. “Obviously starting 2-6 is tough, but we kind of have this thing in Ottawa where we get to the midway point of the season, guys just start ramping up, start playing better ball as a team. The support has been amazing all year, so that’s helped us lock in. There’s something about the halfway point that we just collectively come together.” Both teams now head into the postseason unsure of who their first matchup will be. The Bandits will host the winner of the Calgary Surge and Edmonton Stinger matchup in Langley, while the BlackJacks will play the winner of the Montreal Alliance and Scarborough Shooting Stars game in Gatineau. “We won’t know who we’re playing until Thursday night. So, making sure that over the next level while we get beter, we get healthy,” DeAveiro said. “That’s the first thing. Then we get into practices and work on things that we can do better as a group, focusing on us. The good thing is we’ve seen each other those teams two, three, four times. It’s not about the surprises. It’s just a few minor adjustments here and there.” Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600680