Vancouver Bandits avenged a lopsided defeat by the Winnipeg Sea Bears with a 94-88 win over the Manitoba squad on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd on Envision Financial Court at Langley Events Centre on Filipino Heritage Night.
It was nine days after the Sea Bears handed the Bandits their worst loss of the season in Winnipeg, 114-81.
“They whooped us bad in Winnipeg, so we wanted to get some get-back, not even for first place, we just knew we had to get them back for whooping us,” Bandits guard Jarkel Joiner said. “And we had a great game plan and we came in and executed.”
Vancouver lead assistant coach Rans Brempong said “we knew how important this game was – and I’m proud of the team for showing up and doing what they did tonight.”
Bandits were ahead for all but 3:19 of the game behind Joiner’s 34 points, including eight rebounds and seven assists.
“He’s a joy to coach. You see the way he plays and you can rely on a guy like that because he’s playing off effort every night. You know he is going to give 110 percent,” Brempong said. “He’s a lot of fun, he’s infectious (and) he’s a leader, the head of the snake.”
After a tight opening quarter which saw Vancouver lead by one, the Bandits stretched the lead to 11 at the half, and the deficit proved too much to overcome.
Alongside Joiner’s scoring, Tevin Brown had 21 points, Lloyd Pandi finished with 11 points and six rebounds, and Dominic Parolin had 10 points and eight rebounds. Trevon Scott and Teddy Allen led the Sea Bears with 28 and 27 points, respectively.
With their victory, Vancouver reclaims top spot in the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Western Conference at 9-4 with the Sea Bears sitting a game back at 8-5 as the season’s second-half is now underway.
The Bandits are back in action on Friday, July 3, hosting the Edmonton Stingers at Langley Events Centre at 7 p.m., one of two home games over the weekend with the Calgary Surge visiting on July 5 with a 12:30 p.m. tip-off.
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