Bandits Stun Honey Badgers in Thrilling Target Score Comeback
The Vancouver Bandits proved on Friday that it’s not about how you start a game, just how you finish it.
Despite trailing for a majority of the game, and by eight points at the start of Target Score Time, the Bandits walked away with an 89-85 victory over the Brampton Honey Badgers on Friday thanks to a 19-7 run once the clock stopped.
Leading Vancouver’s effort as they improved to 12-4, extending their lead atop the West to 1.5 games, was Zach Copeland, who finished with a team-high 27 points and a franchise-record tying seven made triples. Behind him were Corey Davis Jr. (18 points, 10 assists) and Kur Jongkuch (13 points, season-high 17 rebounds) with a pair of double-doubles, while Mikyle McIntosh chipped in with 18 points and seven rebounds.
The quartet helped the Bandits overcome the fact that they were missing all three of their leading scorers on the season — Mitch Creek (23.1 points per game), Tyrese Samuel (18.9) and Kyle Mangas (17.8).
“We were working hard to adapt to our roster,” Vancouver head coach and general manager Kyle Julius said after the win. “We’ve had some changes and some new faces, so we just wanted to be able to settle in … and I thought we did a good job of that.”
Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers fell to 4-12 on the season after a fourth consecutive loss, still in last place out East. Spearheading Brampton on Friday was Quinndary Weatherspoon, who put up a game-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Rounding out the Honey Badgers’ double-digit scoring efforts were David Muenkat and Marcus Carr with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
“It was a tough loss,” Weatherspoon said post-game. “I thought we played well throughout the whole game, but just the last couple of possessions … some things got away.”
Despite both squads entering the matchup on the heels of double-digit losses, their last time squaring off less than a week earlier — an 87-84 down-to-the-wire win for the Bandits — led to the belief that Friday’s contest would also be a neck-and-neck battle.
Which turned out to be true for much of the ball game, as neither squad carved out a double-digit lead for the entirety of the contest and were separated by a narrow 63-62 Bandits edge headed into the fourth quarter.
The final frame proved to be the ultimate difference maker, but it, too, wasn’t without back-and-forth action.
Brampton appeared to capture the momentum thanks to an 11-0 run in the early minutes of the fourth, sparked by three consecutive triples. The Honey Badgers finished with 12 made threes on a 38 per cent clip, five of those long balls coming in the fourth.
And although Brampton led 78-70 at the start of Target Score Time thanks to that run to open the fourth, Vancouver stormed right back thanks to a defensive clinic.
The Honey Badgers punched first with back-to-back threes by Carr and Weatherspoon to put themselves on the cusp of victory but were held to just one point after that point as they missed their next six field goal attempts while the Bandits rallied.
Vancouver shot 7-of-12 in Target Score Time, capping off the comeback effort with a Davis triple from the right corner.
“Crazy, hard-fought game,” Copeland said after the win. “I just felt like we stuck it out to the end and made a lot of high-level plays to pull it out.”
Underscoring the Bandits' comeback effort was their effort on the glass, building a 50-36 rebounding edge throughout the night, leading to 15 second-chance points (plus-10).
“We have to end possessions,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said post-game. “If we don’t give up 19 offensive rebounds, then we win the game by way more.”
Box Score
https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600634
Up next
Both squads return Sunday, starting with the Honey Badgers visiting the Scarborough Shooting Stars for the second of three regular-season matchups between the GTA rivals. Meanwhile, the Bandits visit the Montreal Alliance to wrap up a three-game road trip before heading back to Vancouver.
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