L ANGLEY, B.C., May 18, 2022 – The Fraser Valley Bandits announced its training camp roster Wednesday ahead of the club’s first game of the upcoming Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season, which begins next week on Wednesday, May 25, when BC’s pro basketball team takes on the Ottawa BlackJacks at 4:30 p.m. PT.
The 15 player training camp roster consists of a combination of Canadian national team talent, standouts from various top international leagues, as well as former U SPORTS All-Canadians and CCAA all-stars.
Media availability to attend Bandits training camp has been scheduled for Friday, May 20 at 11:30 a.m. at Langley Events Centre . Journalists interested in attending are kindly asked to RSVP to Andrew Savory ( [email protected] ) to request credentials. Accreditation will be required.
Fraser Valley’s roster also features its first non-American international player in Kyle Adnam, who joins the Bandits for his first taste of CEBL action alongside fellow Australian Jamie Pearlman, who was announced yesterday as the club’s lead assistant coach.
The Bandits welcome back 2021 team MVP and last season’s league leader in three-pointers made, Alex Campbell, for his second season in the Valley, as well as 2020 team MVP and 2021 “warrior of the year,” Malcolm Duvivier, who returns to the club for his third season.
“As an organization and front office we are really excited about the growth of the CEBL as a whole. The league has grown tremendously every year and we feel our roster is right on pace with the growth of the league. Our goal has always been to build a roster of toughness and togetherness and we feel we have laid that foundation again this year,” said Bandits general manager Kyle Julius.
“We are truly proud of the coaching staff that we have been able to hire and we have total faith in their ability to get the best out of this year's team. Mike Taylor, Jamie Pearlman, Ryan Thomson, Tony Scott, Josh Reddy and Levon Kendall make up an outstanding international staff and we know the players will benefit.”
Also returning to the club is Chris McLaughlin, who emerged as a fan favourite during Fraser Valley’s inaugural season thanks to his rim-rattling dunks and rebounding presence. The former University of Victoria Vike and U SPORTS first team All-Canadian suited up in six games for the Bandits in 2019, averaging 12 points, 7.8 rebounds (2.5 offensive) and 0.8 blocks per game on 54.3 per cent shooting from the field.
Further sizing up Fraser Valley’s frontline are NCAA Division I products Maxie Esho (University of Massachusetts) and Murphy Burnatowski (Colgate & Maine), who have both enjoyed extensive overseas careers, particularly in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).
“We have brought back our core of toughness, skill and leadership while adding proven pieces like Murphy, Kyle and Maxie. We are chasing competitive greatness with this group and we can't wait to see it come to life. We have the best fans in the league and we will fight tooth and nail to make them proud,” Julius added.
While Esho and Burnatowski bring size and versatility to the Bandits’ forward corps, guards Shane Gibson and Ty Rowell bring deadeye shooting to a revamped Fraser Valley roster. Since graduating from Sacred Heart University (SHU), Gibson has won championships in several of the top professional leagues around the globe; including a 2018 title with AEK Larnaca in Cyprus. Gibson is SHU’s all-time Division I leading scorer.
Joining Gibson beyond the arc is Walnut Grove Secondary guard, Rowell, who recently completed his fifth and graduating season at California Baptist University. He averaged 11 points, 2.8 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 30.4 minutes per game on 41.7 and 40.5 per cent from field goal and three-point range, respectively, over the course of four seasons of Division I basketball after being promoted from DII following the 2017-18 season.
Eight of the 15 players named to the training camp roster are U SPORTS alumni; including recently announced 6-foot-1 guard and two-time U SPORTS MVP and three-time Ontario University Athletics (OUA) player of the year, Kadre Gray, who arrives in the Fraser Valley after starring for the Ottawa BlackJacks and leading them to a CEBL semifinal berth in 2021. Gray scored a CEBL playoff record 32 points in a decisive 96-94 quarterfinal victory over the Hamilton Honey Badgers on Aug. 14, 2021.
Deepening the OUA lineage on the Bandits is former Honey Badgers forward, Thomas Kennedy, who is coming off the best season of his post-secondary career at the University of Windsor, averaging 22.3 points and 15.3 rebounds per game to lead all rebounders in Canadian university basketball. Kennedy is no stranger to the pro game after being drafted by the Honey Badgers in 2019 and 2021 and averaging 18 minutes and 5.2 points per game for Hamilton last season.
The Bandits drafted Kennedy in the first round of the annual CEBL U SPORTS Draft, followed by current University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbird, Sukhman Sandhu. The sharpshooting forward led all of U SPORTS in three-point percentage (50 per cent) among players with a minimum of 50 attempts in 2021-22.
Prior to UBC, Sandhu suited up for the University of the Fraser Valley where he played alongside fellow training camp roster member and Tamanawis Secondary alumnus Sukhjot Bains, who recently completed his first pro season in Sweden where he led Helsingborg in scoring, averaging 15.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on 47.1 and 37.6 per cent shooting from field goal and three-point range.
Also returning to the Bandits is fellow U SPORTS Development Athlete Adam Paige, who was drafted by the Bandits in 2021 and was re-signed last month after helping the University of Alberta reach the U SPORTS men’s basketball Final 8. This time around; however, Paige brings with him Golden Bears running mate and 6-foot-1 guard Geoffrey James, who finished second on Alberta in scoring with 14.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game on 43.9 and 36.7 per cent shooting from the field and three-point range.
A final local tie between the Bandits and British Columbia’s skilled collection of university bred talent is American guard Usama Zaid, who took home CCAA player of the year honours in 2017 after he led the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Mariners to a 16-2 record and a first place finish in PACWEST.
Zaid split time between the guard and forward positions and led all of PACWEST with 28.3 points per game, while also averaging 9.1 rebounds on a nightly basis.
Fraser Valley opens its fourth CEBL season on the road on Wednesday, May 25 against Ottawa. Following a three-game road swing to start the year, the Bandits will debut at LEC for their home opener against the Rattlers on Saturday, June 4.
Full and partial season ticket packages, as well as group and single game tickets are available for purchase at thebandits.ca/tickets . Fans are kindly asked to call (604) 866-0529 or email [email protected] for any questions or ticket related inquiries.
Fans can also fill out this form to register their interest for tickets and to arrange to be contacted directly by a team representative.
All CEBL regular season games will be livestreamed on the free CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca , the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices and CEBL+ .
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