FRASER VALLEY PUTS STREAK ON THE LINE AGAINST NEWFOUNDLAND
The 7-2 Fraser Valley Bandits, riding a four-game winning streak, host the 0-7 Newfoundland Growlers on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. PT.
Fraser Valley’s most recent win was 97-81 over the Montreal Alliance at home. In that game the Bandits had to withstand a 14-2 Montreal run to start the fourth that cut Fraser Valley’s lead from 18 to six in just under three minutes. Shane Gibson and James Karnik started it, and Gibson and Karnik got it to where Malcolm Duvivier could hit a game winning three.
Over their last two games, Fraser Valley showed three different facets of their offence, a lot revolving around the vision of their perimeter players. In their 90-85 win over Guelph on June 21, the Bandits got the ball to the midrange with the handling of their guards, and four starting guards finished with double-digit points led by Shane Gibson who shot 7-12 from inside for 23 points. The Bandits shot 23 threes against Guelph, as the paint and post were the primary targets on offence.
In their next game against Montreal, Gibson moved his shot outside and the Bandits shot 32 threes, making 18 of them behind seven of nine from Gibson. While the guards found their shot from in and around the paint against Guelph, they showed against Montreal their ability to be prolific from beyond the arc, and Kyle Adnam, Ty Rowell, Karnik, Esho, Duvivier and Gibson each made at least a pair of threes.
The Bandits guards attack was matched by the play of Karnik and Esho at the forward position. Like they did against Guelph, Fraser Valley showed their ability to punish matchups and Esho went a perfect 7-for-7 while Karnik shot 5-for-7, each for 16 points.
The Bandits guards who have won attacking from everywhere on the floor, will be going against Brandon Sampson, Jahvon Blair, Terry Thomas and the Growlers. Thomas, Sampson and Blair match the three-point shooting of the Bandits, in Newfoundland’s most recent game the three guards combined for 22 attempted threes, making 11 of those attempts. Sampson, who leads the CEBL in points per game with 23.1, scored 22 in the Growlers 95-91 loss to Hamilton and though he went three of six from the perimeter, he added with five of six shooting from inside.
The Growlers guards match the efficiency from both mid and long range, as they displayed in their game against Hamilton shooting 58 per cent from inside and 42 per cent from three.
Going against Esho and Karnik, the Growlers forward contributions have come from Nysier Brooks and Shaquille Keith. In the Growlers 89-82 loss to the Guelph Nighthawks, Keith scored 18 points on six of nine shooting to go with three rebounds against the Nighthawks post presence in Tj Lall and Madut Akec. Keith’s contributions offensively is matched by his defence. Keith is tied for first in the league in steals per game with 2.4 and the ability to disrupt the ball movement the Bandits have executed lately will be important for Newfoundland.
The Bandits are looking to extend their winning streak to five while the Growlers are looking for momentum on a Sunday evening. All games will be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+, and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Games will also be available to stream live in Canada via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.
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