Vancouver Bandits Release Mikyle Malabuyoc

It wasn’t pretty, but the Vancouver Bandits (4-0) remained undefeated all the same. A 100-89 road win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears (1-3) on Wednesday night was the latest victory for the CEBL-leading squad, one which they earned after rallying from down 13 in the first half. Spearheading Vancouver’s fourth-consecutive double-digit win was yet again the three-headed monster of Kyle Mangas (game-high 27 points), Mitch Creek (23 points and nine assists) and Tyrese Samuel (16 points on 7-of-9 shooting). The trio proved why they all rank within the top 10 for scoring in the league this season as they combined to account for 66 per cent of the Bandits offensive production on the night. Meanwhile, MiKyle Mcintosh chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and two steals in his 15 minutes off the bench. On the other side, Tevian Jones led the Sea Bears with his team-high 23 points, six assists and five steals. The import guard struggled efficiency-wise, however, as he shot just 6-of-17 from the field and went 4-of-14 from distance — the only Sea Bears starter to finish with a negative plus-minus (minus-15). Jaylin Williams finished with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while Terry Roberts and Alex Campbell put up 16 and 11 points to round of Winnipeg’s double-digit scorers. “Credit to Vancouver, they’re a good team, but everything we could control, we didn’t,” Campbell said following the Sea Bears’ third-consecutive loss. “Energy, effort, second chance plays … those compiled.” They say three-pointers are the great equalizer, and Winnipeg proved that point early on Wednesday, using the long-ball to punch first against the league’s hottest team. The Sea Bears opened the game with an 11-4 run that was sparked by a 3-of-4 shooting start from beyond the arc. The trio of makes from Jones, Williams and Campbell were an encouraging change as Winnipeg entered the night last in the CEBL in three-point percentage (24.8) despite ranking second in attempts per game (36.3). They ended up hitting 4-of-8 triples in the opening frame to carve out a 29-23 lead after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Vancouver did itself no favours early, uncharacteristically turning the ball over seven times through the first quarter – a number that was already more than half its usual average per game (12.3) that ranked second-lowest in the CEBL. Had it not been for the Bandits giving up 21 points off their many first-half turnovers, they may have avoided their first victory of less than at least 30 points. “I thought we were asleep at the wheel in the first half,” Vancouver head coach and general manager Kyle Julius said of his team’s sloppy start. “There was this aura of nonchalance.” Neither of those early trends lasted, however, as the Sea Bears hot shooting cooled off — finishing 10-of-38 (26 per cent) — and the Bandits limited them to just eight points off giveaways the rest of the way. Those changes allowed the league’s top offence to get to work as Vancouver went on a 21-4 run between the end of the second quarter and start of the third, taking their first lead of the ball game after trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and facing a 48-45 deficit at the break. And the Bandits held onto that momentum throughout the frame largely thanks to Mangas who caught fire. The import guard went a 6-of-7 from the field for 15 points in the third as Vancouver outscored Winnipeg 34-11 in the third and ended the frame on a 17-0 run as they broke open the largest lead of the game. The Sea Bears did show some resilience in the final frame, cutting a 79-59 deficit entering the fourth down as low as seven points during Target Score time. “For the majority of the game, there were a lot of positives,” Winnipeg head coach and general manager Mike Taylor said post-game. “But that third quarter, we got sped up a little bit, made poor decisions … for the majority of the game we made strides but we weren’t consistent enough and that stretch came back to haunt us.” Vancouver kept Winnipeg at arm’s length however, thanks to timely offence by its leading scorers. A dunk from Samuel stopped an 8-0 Sea Bears run and then Mangas finished things by hitting back-to-back triples — the final two of his five makes from distance on the night. “That was really good,” Julius said on his team facing some adversity. “We got punched in the mouth in the first half and I thought that response was really good in the third quarter.” Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600579 Up next The Bandits return on Friday as they’ll visit the Edmonton Stingers (1-3) for the second of four matchups this season. It’ll be a swift rematch following last Saturday’s contest in which Vancouver picked up a dominant 109-79 win.

The Vancouver Bandits have announced today the following roster updates in advance of its Wednesday, May 28 game on the road against the Winnipeg Sea Bears at 5:00 p.m. PT G Duane Notice and G Sam Maillet have been removed from the club's injured list and will be available on today's game day roster. G Mike Nuga has been removed from the club's Suspended List, after concluding prior overseas basketball commitments, and will be available on today's game day roster. G Tristan Jass (lower body) did not travel with the team and is ruled out for today's game.

A well-oiled machine continues to hum along in Vancouver. The Bandits won their third straight game to open the season, routing the Edmonton Stingers 109-79 on Saturday at Langley Events Centre. Vancouver (3-0) had already kicked off its campaign with 40- and 37-point blowouts prior to its latest 30-point romp. Now, the Bandits have scored 107 more points than their opponents — and their players have twice set franchise scoring records, with Mitch Creek’s 36 points matching the mark Tyrese Samuel established just last week. Head coach Kyle Julius said his group is among the best he’s ever worked with. “These guys are just great guys. Every time I come in the gym, they’re there early, they stay late, they care. … They allow you to push them and they allow you to coach them and they’re just great kids. The whole group of them is really high character,” Julius said. Vancouver led 100-70 heading into Target Score Time, and while Edmonton (1-3) showed some fight, the Bandits made relatively quick work of their West rival. Rookie Kyle Mangas capped the victory with a pair of three-pointers. Julius added that the dominant start to the season is a result of the synergy between his coaching style and his players. “I really need guys to genuinely care about this like it’s life and death. That’s what it is for me. In this business, I lose five games in a row, I could be fired, and so I approach every possession with that passion. When I have players that care about it like that … that’s kinda like the core root to this whole thing,” he said.\ Creek, who burst onto the CEBL scene last season when he averaged 26 points per game and led Vancouver to the Finals, enjoyed a breakout night offensively. The big Aussie’s 36 points represented a season- and game-high, and he also added seven rebounds and five assists. “It’s a bunch of very, very talented, unselfish selfish individuals at the right time,” Creek said of the team’s early success. “Three days ago, I didn’t have a big game but maybe my impact was just as impactful as it was tonight. Just because I put some points on the board doesn’t mean that’s the reason that we won.” Mangas, 26, poured in 23 points while shooting seven-for-12 from beyond the arc, Canadian big man Tyrese Samuel added 17 points and point guard Shamar Givance had five points and 15 assists. Creek said Julius recently shared a video with him that resonated about this Bandits team. “It was an NHL player who said, ‘When you walk in the locker room and don’t know who the best player is, that’s when you know you have a championship-calibre team,’ and that’s what we have right now and it’s really fun playing on a team like that,” Creek said. Stingers head coach Jordan Baker said the Bandits’ depth of scoring options makes them difficult to contain. “You gotta give credit to Vancouver. They played well, they shot the ball well, they executed well and we did basically the opposite,” he said. For Edmonton, Cameron McGriff led the way with 18 points and six rebounds off the bench while Sean East II added 16 points, three assists and three steals. Edmonton became the second team in CEBL history to score 10,000 points (including playoffs) when Nick Hornsby – the team’s active all-time scoring leader – converted an and-one in the second quarter. But Hornsby said the team needs to go back to the drawing board following the 30-point defeat. “I feel like a lot of the stuff was on us. Like I said, they’re a good team, they run their plays well, they’re physical and do the things they need to do to win,” Hornsby said. The Bandits held an early 22-10 lead, but the Stingers fought back to narrow their deficit to 24-20 after the first quarter. Vancouver fought back to take a 51-40 advantage into halftime. The Bandits extended their lead to 80-63 following the third quarter, and the blowout was on.