Matthew Winick
The Fraser Valley Bandits (7-7) survived a late push from the Saskatchewan Rattlers (1-13) to win by a score of 84-79 on Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre in the CEBL’s last regular season game of the 2021 campaign.
The contest was neck and neck throughout, with neither squad able to gain a double-digit lead at any point. Each time Fraser Valley tried to pull away, Saskatchewan fought back to bring the game within reach once again.
The Rattlers took a slim 74-72 lead into the Elam Ending thanks to an and-one finish from Nervens Demosthene, but the Bandits controlled the last few minutes of action. Much like Sunday’s contest which saw a narrow Fraser Valley victory, Saskatchewan was simply unable to get over the hump.
It was clear that the Bandits were ready for the pressure and intensity that comes with playoff basketball, something they will be faced with soon enough with the quarterfinals set for this weekend.
“We’re excited. We have some momentum right now, we’re catching a bit of momentum, and things are starting to fall into place,” said Bandits’ coach David Singleton after the game, “We just want to keep continuing this momentum… and I think we’re going to be in great shape.”
7-foot big man Brandon Gilbeck led the Bandits in scoring on the night with 18 points on an efficient 9-13 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds, two assists and two blocks. The import from Spring Green, Wisconsin feasted on a shorter Rattlers frontline, using his elite size and impressive lateral quickness to run the floor and finish at the rim for easy baskets.
“I tried to do my work early, get close to the basket and seal them,” said Gilbeck, “It’s kind of nice because my teammates have really been giving me good post passes. It’s made it easy.”
On the other side, Saskatchewan put forth a valiant effort in its final contest of the season, with the Saskatoon faithful cheering their team on. While the Rattlers knew they had no playoff games to prepare for, they gave full effort and pushed the four-seeded Bandits to the final whistle twice in the last three days. '
“The amount of respect I have for these guys is through the roof, we really had a genuine good group of guys,” said Rattlers’ head coach Conor Dow, “I didn’t know what to expect coming into tonight, but the togetherness we played with, the passion we exhibited on the court, is exactly what we want from our team.”
Leading the way in the scoring column for Saskatchewan was guard Kemy Osse, dropping 22 points in the loss. Potential Canadian of the Year candidate Devonte Bandoo also put together a solid game, scoring 19 points, adding four assists and four rebounds. The game for Bandoo was a strong finish to what was a very successful first year of professional basketball for the guard out of Mississauga, Ontario.
“I learnt about adversity, playing with a team that was struggling, and learning how to execute and play through that stuff,” said Bandoo, “Having a season like this, you learn from it, get better from it and take that to the offseason.”
Moving forward, the Rattlers will head into their offseason, looking towards improving on their second-straight last place finish in the CEBL standings.
On the other side, the Bandits will begin to prepare for their crucial quarterfinal matchup at home against the Guelph Nighthawks at 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. local time on Sunday. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals the following weekend at Championship Weekend in Edmonton.
All CEBL games will be available for live streaming on the CEBL’s new OTT streaming service CEBL+, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and android devices, and on Twitch.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 75 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season typically runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube