Bandits rout Stingers for third straight win to open season

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.