BANDITS OUTLAST GROWLERS, MOVE INTO FIRST PLACE ATOP STANDINGS

LANGLEY, B.C., June 26, 2022 – Turnovers plagued the Fraser Valley Bandits on Sunday, but it was a steal from their defence which cemented yet another victory.

With the score tied at 92 and the Newfoundland Growlers setting up for what they hoped was the game-winning basket, Kyle Adnam and Alex Campbell teamed up near centre court to force a turnover with Campbell then racing in for the game-winning lay-up in a 94-92 win in Canadian Elite Basketball League action.

The plan was to use a foul, since the Bandits had two to give before the Growlers would be into a bonus situation.

“We wanted to foul to try and disrupt the offensive set they had drawn up and get them into a sideline play. (Just) Alex making a winning play. He caught the right time to swipe the ball loose and then got up the court for the winning layup,” said Fraser Valley coach Mike Taylor.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Bandits who sit in first place in CEBL through the season’s first half at 8-2 while the expansion Growlers remain winless at 0-8.

Sunday’s matinee affair saw Newfoundland lead for much of the contest – they trailed for all but 3:35 – as the Growlers defence forced 17 Fraser Valley turnovers, turning those into 23 points.

They also hounded the Bandits outside shooters as the team’s three-point shooting started out by hitting three of their first four attempts but were eight for 30 the rest of the way, finishing the game 11-for-34 (32.4 per cent).

This came a game after Fraser Valley seemingly could not miss from downtown, shooting 56.3 per cent (18-for-32) in a 97-81 win over the Montreal Alliance on Friday night.

“Their pick and roll coverage was completely different than Montreal; they were icing our pick and rolls, so we changed our attack a little bit. Early on, we had some great looks, and they didn’t go … we just went to plan B and plan C in our game plan,” Taylor said.

Not helping the Bandits cause was the fact they were leading scorer Shane Gibson (18.2 points per game) who has led the team in five of the past seven games, as well as Thomas Kennedy and Murphy Burnatowski, the club’s two leading scorers in those other games.

While Kennedy and Burnatowski’s absence was expected, Gibson did not feel right during warm-ups and was held out for precautionary reasons.

Adnam would lead the Bandits with 20 points and seven assists, and he was one of five who scored in double figures. 

“The great thing about this team is we really are 10, 11 guys deep. You see young guys stepping in seamlessly and that is the backbone of a great team, being able to have that next guy come in and be flawless and still be able to pull off a win,” Adnam said.

While Adnam led the way with 20 points, Maxie Esho scored 19 and both Campbell and Karnik had 15 while Kadre Gray chipped in a dozen.

“Their leading scorer is not playing, Murph (Burnatowski) is not here and we still seem to let everybody on their team score in double figures,” said Newfoundland coach Patrick Ewing Jr. 

“We are not playing well defensively; we are not stopping anybody and that is how you win games. As much as you need to score, you have to stop teams. We are scoring as much as anybody in the league, it is going to come down to how we get stops, when we get stops.”

The Growlers led 29-25 after a quarter and 53-50 at the half. It was still a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter and then 85-81 for the visitors when the Elam Ending was triggered, with the target score set at 94.

The Bandits opened the Elam Ending by scoring five straight points from the charity stripe and then an Adnam three made it 89-85.

The Growlers responded with a 7-1 run of their own – the Fraser Valley point courtesy of a Campbell free throw on a technical assessed to Ewing Jr. – to take the 92-90 lead before James Karnik lay-in tied the score and Campbell’s steal and basket sealed the victory.

Entering the fourth quarter, each team had shot 13 free throws, but by game’s end it was 20 attempts for the Bandits (with 17 made) compared to the Growlers’ 11-for-13.

“I thought there were some calls at the end that they didn’t call at our end, but called at their end, but that’s basketball. That happens in every league, that happens in every gym. I will never use it as an excuse as to why we lost,” Ewing Jr. said.

On the Bandits’ side of things, it was a better focus on the defensive end which helped turn things around as Taylor felt his team was doing a good job of guarding the Growlers’ set plays but were not as effective in slowing them in transition or getting out to challenge the shooters.

The Growlers were led by the duo of Nysier Brooks (22 points) and Brandon Sampson (21). Brooks also had 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Game notes

Fraser Valley was able to secure 17 offensive rebounds, turning those into 22 second-chance points. They also won the rebound battle 37-33.

Karnik, Adam Paige and Sukhman Sandhu each had a blocked shot for the Bandits. 

Next up for the Bandits is another home game as they welcome the Scarborough Shooting Stars to Langley Events Centre on July 1 with a 7:30pm start. Tickets are on sale now at this link.