How the Bandits season-opening win is a stepping stone toward exorcising last season's demons
By Contributing Bandits Writer: Grant Vassos • July 28, 2020
In the final moments of a season opener that appeared all but wrapped up for the Fraser Valley Bandits, it all came down to one last point. What was once a 22-point lead at the start of the Elam Ending quickly evaporated to just a 10 point lead within minutes. On the sidelines, head coach Kyle Julius continued to preach calmness to his players.
“Execute, execute,” he said during a stoppage of play in the game’s closing moments.
A slight misjudgment during the dying minutes of the fourth quarter gave the Edmonton Stingers an opening to come back after Julius opted to take a whistle by fouling. With the time remaining, a pause would force the game into the Elam Ending and give the Bandits a chance to close out the win. Upon reflection, however, the strategy was a mistake.
“When you have such a big lead, there’s no point in letting them score on another possession. So, we tried to foul, and then I didn’t know the next foul was a bonus situation (for the Stingers),” Julius said.
“And then our guys relaxed in Elam, they totally let up. It was good, it was good teaching. It’s nice when you can go through a teaching moment and win at the same time because most of the teaching occurs when you lose.”
The call was out-of-bounds against the Stingers and Bandits guard Marek Klassen was responsible for inbounding the ball to set up a potential game-winner. The pass was inbounded right to a wide-open Jahenns Manigat outside the arc. Standing in front of an onlooking Bandits bench, Manigat quickly glanced down at the floor, composing himself, before sinking a dagger three-point shot to seal the 113-100 victory.
“He didn’t play in the fourth quarter because that group was playing quite well, so I was saving him for the Elam,” Julius said on Manigat’s 16-point performance. “And then he comes in the Elam and then coincidentally he makes the last shot. I can’t say enough about Jahenns, to be honest.”
The celebration remained brief – a few fist pumps from Manigat and an emphatic yell from Cameron Forte after everyone had cleared the court. More importantly, the win marked the official transition into a new era of Bandits basketball, one which is fueled by defence, shooting, and an unrelenting motor to compete.
“My dad kind of raised me on the game that way. I coached that way. All of our teams, we try and find that switch, that toughness switch,” Julius said. “I want to be able to rely on that, not shooting and other things.”
As if coming into a new season with a completely restructured roster and coaching staff after finishing the previous season with a 4-16 record wasn’t enough motivation for the Bandits, it was the noise from people outside the locker room, which caught Julius’ attention.
The team he handpicked was too small, prone to mismatches, and was pegged by everyone to finish last or second-last coming into the CEBL Summer Series. All of it served as motivation.
“I always took offense to that because I watched the CEBL last year. I didn’t see any really big teams or anything like that, so I was confused, and then I started to take it personally, and it became a chip on our shoulder,” Julius said.
Julius expected nothing less but maximum effort from his players against the Stingers and execute they did. Forte led the team with a game-high 28 points, using his assertive 6-foot-7 frame to grab offensive rebounds and work against defenders in the paint. Kyle Johnson, who put up 19 points, set the pace from the start after sprinting for a loose ball on the opening tip-off and laying up a smooth finger roll to take the lead, one the Bandits never looked back on.
“We’ve got a bunch of hungry dogs on our team that are going to compete. We’re never going to give up,” Johnson said. “And even though camp has been short, we’ve been getting after it, man. We’re really ready for this and hungry for this.”
Marek Klassen remains the only player on the current roster from that 2019 Fraser Valley team, which finished its inaugural season on a six-game losing streak and posted the worst record in the league.
For every team that year – nonetheless, an entire league – it was a feeling-out process of figuring out how the season would play out. Klassen never felt stressed about the lack of results on the court. In their final appearance of the season, they lost 95-85 to the eventual second-place Stingers. They were a team that couldn’t seem to close-out games when they mattered, many of them going into overtime.
“As a professional, you gotta take it one day at a time. I wasn’t there for the full season, neither were the rest of our guys,” Klassen said.
“So coming back here, it’s a lot of pride playing for my home city, and I think that we’ve instilled that same thing within this group. And the unfinished business sort of thing is here, so every team is circled on our schedule. We’re ready.”
With their previous loss against the Stingers avenged, the Bandits now set their sights on July 28 against the defending champion Saskatchewan Rattlers, who also won their season-opener against the Niagara River Lions in impressive fashion. Julius tempered expectations by saying how he believes no team will go undefeated this summer. Unbeaten or not, one thing has been made clear: these are not the same Bandits from before.
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The Vancouver Bandits announced Thursday that the club has signed 6-foot-9 forward Dominic Parolin to its roster for the 2026 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season. Hailing from Coquitlam, B.C., this marks Parolin’s first professional basketball contract after recently completing a six-year NCAA DI career with stints at Boise State University and Lehigh University. “I can’t wait to start off my professional career with the Bandits. This organization has a history of success and I am excited to be a part of it,” said Parolin. “Having grown up around Vancouver, this is also a great opportunity to reconnect with the local basketball community.” After redshirting during the 2024-25 season, Parolin appeared in 32 games for the Boise State Broncos in 2025-26 where he suited up in 32 games with averages of 5.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 0.5 blocks in 17.0 minutes per game. Prior to Boise State, Parolin played four seasons with the Lehigh Mountain Hawks where he was named Third Team All-Patriot League in 2024. “We are all excited about working with Dominic. He has had a tremendous college career and has a very high ceiling as a professional player,” said Bandits head coach and general manager, Kyle Julius. “Dominic plays with big time toughness, has great size and a versatile game as a power forward. Being a B.C. kid, we are thrilled that he is back home playing for us in front of friends and family.” An alumnus of Centennial Secondary in Coquitlam, B.C., Parolin captained the Centaurs’ senior boys team to a fifth-place finish at the 2020 BC 4A Boys Basketball Provincial Championship, while also earning First Team All-Star honours at the tournament. The Bandits open the 2026 CEBL season on Thursday, May 14 on the road in Saskatoon before coming home for its Home Opener against the Edmonton Stingers on Friday, May 22 at 7:00 p.m. PT at Envision Financial Court at Langley Events Centre. A full game schedule can be viewed here . Bandits Single Game Tickets and additional 2026 ticket options can be purchased here . All CEBL regular season games including playoffs will be live-streamed on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+, the CEBL Mobile app, the CBC Gem app and the CBC Sports YouTube channel. Marquee games will air nationally on CBC TV. More information is available at thebandits.ca and @vancouverbandits on Instagram and TikTok, as well as @vancitybandits on Facebook and Twitter.
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The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is proud to announce CEBL Signing Day , coming April 8. Replacing the CEBL Draft , Signing Day will roll out across league-wide social platforms, spotlighting the next wave of elite Canadian talent as student-athletes from U SPORTS and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) officially sign for the 2026 season. Two athletes per team will be announced, with the possibility of more signings as the season approaches. Since 2019, the CEBL’s partnership with U SPORTS and more recently also the CCAA has built a pro-level stage where the best intercollegiate talent from coast to coast can shine. CEBL teams are incentivized to carry development players on their active rosters, with up to three developmental players eligible per game outside the Club’s salary cap. The results speak for themselves: 116 student-athletes from 44 schools across Canada have been selected by CEBL clubs through the draft process, a testament to the exceptional depth and calibre of Canadian collegiate basketball. The world will be watching. Through the CEBL's landmark five-year broadcast partnership with CBC Sports, these talented student-athletes will get national, and global, spotlight. Marquee games will air on CBC TV, including the first-ever best-of-three CEBL Finals in league history, with every CEBL game live streamed on CBC Gem and CBC Sports YouTube and CEBL+ . Canadian basketball has never been more visible and it's only getting bigger. For the full 2026 CEBL schedule, visit cebl.ca/schedule . Details on the league’s new playoff format are available at cebl.ca/playoffs , and ticket information for all CEBL games can be found at cebl.ca/tickets .
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