Undermanned Bandits steal one from Sea Bears

Jarkel Joiner stepped up when the Vancouver Bandits needed him most.

The 27-year-old starred with a sensational 34-point performance to lift the Bandits to a 94-88 victory over the Winnipeg Sea Bears at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia on Saturday.

After being embarrassed by Winnipeg one week earlier on the road, Vancouver entered the rematch without a number of their most important personnel.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League’s reigning Most Valuable Player, Mitch Creek, and standout Canadian forward Tyrese Samuel were unavailable for the second straight meeting. The Bandits were also without guard Jaelen House, who scored a franchise-record 42 points against the Sea Bears before being abruptly released earlier this week.

This was on top of the absence of head coach Kyle Julius, who was serving the second of a three-game suspension.

Needless to say, Vancouver needed someone to take the bull by the horns.

Joiner, who last winter played for the Toronto Raptors NBA G League affiliate, Raptors 905, obliged by packing the stat sheet, adding eight rebounds and seven assists to his night.

Newly acquired guard Tevin Brown also chipped in with 21 points while leading the team with over 34 minutes of playing time.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Sea Bears, who dropped to 8-5 and conceded the top spot in the Western Conference back to the Bandits, who improved to 9-4. These two clubs will face off twice more this season, with the next meeting coming on July 23 in Winnipeg.

The first half for the Sea Bears was the antithesis of their previous outing against the Bandits.

Sloppy possessions, missed shots, and, most importantly to head coach Mike Raimbault, a collectively uninspiring effort defensively led to his club trailing for much of the night.

Winnipeg connected on 46 per cent of its field goal attempts and made just five of its 25 attempts from deep range.

Raimbault told the CEBL’s sideline reporter after halftime that he didn’t like his team’s effort, particularly on the defensive end, in the opening half.

The Sea Bears responded to the bench boss’s challenge with a much-improved effort in the second half, but continued to struggle to turn that into offensive production until late in the fourth quarter.

To the Sea Bears’ credit, though, they persisted through long stretches of poor shooting and made it a game until the bitter end.

Winnipeg trailed by 17 with a little over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but cut the deficit to 11 entering the Target Score session, where they went on a 14-9 run that gave the Bandits a sweat.

Trevon Scott scored a team-high 28 points off the bench, while Teddy Allen — who finished with 27 points — led the late charge, scoring 10 of the club’s points in Target Score Time.

Emmanuel Akot made his return to the starting lineup, scoring three points and bringing down four rebounds in 22:55 of action.

The Sea Bears will look for better success when they return to Canada Life Centre — where they own an unblemished 5-0 record this season — to face the Saskatoon Mamba (6-6) on Tuesday (7 p.m.).

winnipegfreepress.com/joshuafreysam