ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND – The Fraser Valley Bandits defeated the Newfoundland Growlers 88-81 to move to 9-4. The Growlers are now 1-11 on the season.
The Bandits started with five points from James Karnik and a Shane Gibson jumper to push out to a 7-2 lead. The Growlers subbed in Blake Francis and he immediately knocked down a three which sparked the Growlers offence and was proceeded by Brandon Sampson and Jermel Kennedy getting going.
From that point, the Growlers knocked down four threes to push out to a 16-9 lead and took a hold of the momentum. Their defence forced turnovers and their shooting kept pace as the Growlers went into the second quarter with a 24-18 lead.
Newfoundland shot 50 per cent from the field making six threes, and Francis who knocked down a pair of threes led the Growlers with 10 points.
Malcolm Duvivier started the second quarter with five points of his own to cut the Bandits deficit to one but just as the first quarter went, the Growlers responded. Sampson continued his offensive performance facilitating while taking his opportunities when he’s given them, and Terry Thomas provided energy and key baskets to keep the Growlers run going. Newfoundland pushed out to their largest lead, 34-25 with 5:18 remaining in the second quarter.
Fraser Valley didn't let the deficit get to double-digits as Klassen made a floater which started a 14-6 second half of the quarter in favour of the Bandits. Campbell and Karnik were the primary contributors with Klassen setting up many of the opportunities. After a Klassen layup to make it 36-34, Sampson made sure the Bandits couldn't tie the game or take the lead yet, making a floater which was followed by five points from the Bandits to put them up one. A late foul on Sampson put him at the free throw line with just over a second remaining in the half where he made both free throws.
Sampson had 14 points at the halftime buzzer with Francis following him with 10 points on 50 per cent shooting. Karnik shooting 5-8 gave him 12 points to lead the Bandits with Duvivier making a pair of threes to give him 10 points. Newfoundland led the Bandits 40-39 going into halftime.
After a first half of runs, Karnik and Sampson sparked a back and forth third quarter. Neither team was able to go on a big run as the lead went back and forth four times in the first five minutes from Newfoundland’s lead at the half. Adnam put the Bandits up 52-48 with just under five minutes left in the quarter. At the end of the third quarter, the Bandits led 67-60.
Fraser Valley started the fourth quarter with five points from Gibson to push their lead to 12 but a trio of threes from Newfoundland cut the deficit back to three, 72-69 with 7:20 remaining in the fourth. When the Growlers went on their run, Duvivier made sure the Bandits kept their lead. Going into Elam time, Fraser Valley held a 78-73 lead over the Growlers, target score set at 87.
Sampson started the scoring in Elam time to cut the Growlers deficit to three and Karnik got a dish from Campbell to put it back to five points, 80-75. The Growlers were able to respond to Bandits runs throughout the game but the shot creating of Gibson put the Bandits within four points of victory with the Growlers 12 away, a deficit that would prove to be too much. The points the Bandits needed came from a Gibson three-pointer and a following layup to give Fraser Valley the win. Fraser Valley defeated Newfoundland 88-81.
Francis led the Growlers with 22 points, a rebound and six assists with Sampson following with 21 points, an assist and two steals. Thomas led the Growlers on the boards with eight rebounds, with Brooks and Kennedy both adding six rebounds.
Leading scorer for the Bandits was Gibson who finished with 25 points on 62 per cent shooting, five rebounds, an assist and two steals. Karnik shot 72 per cent to finish with 18 points, six rebounds and an assist. Duvivier gave the Bandits 17 points off of the bench to go with four rebounds. Campbell recorded 13 points on 60 per cent shooting, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Malcolm Duvivier talked about what changed in the second half that led to Fraser Valley coming away victorious, “I think we just started getting out in transition and locking in on defence, I think in the first half we were playing a little more of a half-court game and that was kind of going to their type of game and in the second half we got into transition and that started to open up the floor. We kept attacking and it started going our way.”