Bandits won their third straight game to open the season, routing the Edmonton Stingers 109-79 on Saturday at 黑马磁力 Events Centre.
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Vancouver (3-0) had already kicked off its campaign with 40- and 37-point blowouts prior to its latest 30-point romp.
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Now, the Bandits have scored 107 more points than their opponents 鈥� and their players have twice set franchise scoring records, with Mitch Creek鈥檚 36 points matching the mark Tyrese Samuel established just last week.
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Head coach Kyle Julius said his group is among the best he鈥檚 ever worked with.
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鈥淭hese guys are just great guys. Every time I come in the gym, they鈥檙e there early, they stay late, they care. 鈥� They allow you to push them and they allow you to coach them and they鈥檙e just great kids. The whole group of them is really high character,鈥� Julius said.
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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.
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Rookie Kyle Mangas capped the victory with a pair of three-pointers.
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Julius added that the dominant start to the season is a result of the synergy between his coaching style and his players.
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鈥淚 really need guys to genuinely care about this like it鈥檚 life and death. That鈥檚 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 鈥� that鈥檚 kinda like the core root to this whole thing,鈥� he said.\
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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.
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The big Aussie鈥檚 36 points represented a season- and game-high, and he also added seven rebounds and five assists.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 a bunch of very, very talented, unselfish selfish individuals at the right time,鈥� Creek said of the team鈥檚 early success. 鈥淭hree days ago, I didn鈥檛 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鈥檛 mean that鈥檚 the reason that we won.鈥�
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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.
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Creek said Julius recently shared a video with him that resonated about this Bandits team.
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鈥淚t was an NHL player who said, 鈥榃hen you walk in the locker room and don鈥檛 know who the best player is, that鈥檚 when you know you have a championship-calibre team,鈥� and that鈥檚 what we have right now and it鈥檚 really fun playing on a team like that,鈥� Creek said.
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Stingers head coach Jordan Baker said the Bandits鈥� depth of scoring options makes them difficult to contain.
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鈥淵ou gotta give credit to Vancouver. They played well, they shot the ball well, they executed well and we did basically the opposite,鈥� he said.
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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.
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Edmonton became the second team in CEBL history to score 10,000 points (including playoffs) when Nick Hornsby 鈥� the team鈥檚 active all-time scoring leader 鈥� converted an and-one in the second quarter.
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But Hornsby said the team needs to go back to the drawing board following the 30-point defeat.
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鈥淚 feel like a lot of the stuff was on us. Like I said, they鈥檙e a good team, they run their plays well, they鈥檙e physical and do the things they need to do to win,鈥� Hornsby said.
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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.
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The Bandits extended their lead to 80-63 following the third quarter, and the blowout was on.锘�
Next for the Bandits, a May 28 trip to Winnipeg to play the Sea Bears.
