Stingers Drop Against Top-Seeded Bandits

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Stingers come up short in their first game back from a road trip, falling 121-105 to the Vancouver Bandits at the EXPO Centre.

Scottie Lindsey, Sean East II and Keon Ambrose-Hylton each totalled 19 points, but it was not enough to find a way through the Western Conference-leading Bandits. 

The Stingers were coming off a 3-1 road trip where their sole loss was against the Bandits on July 20. The matchup set the stage for a solid fight between two of the CEBL's best teams and an opportunity for Edmonton to avenge their loss in Vancouver. 

The Stingers opened the game playing catch-up with the Bandits jumping to an early 6-2 lead. Edmonton would fight back and found their groove in the quarter and connected on a string of shots to tie it 12-12, thanks to a three from Bourcier. The two teams would go back and forth trading the lead multiple times until late in the quarter when Vancouver gained the game's first sizeable lead. The Bandits caught fire to close out the opening frame as Mitch Creek's 10 points fueled a Vancouver run to push the Bandits to a 31-25 lead after 10 minutes. The Stingers needed to respond to keep the game within reach as they headed into the second. 

And Edmonton did just that, opening the quarter with a mini 5-2 run and draining consecutive threes from Scottie Lindsey, Taye Donald and Elijah Miller to cut the lead to 40-39 for Vancouver. But that wasn't enough for the Stingers to steal the game's momentum. The Bandits retaliated with a 14-8 run and looked like they were going to run away with the game, until Edmonton started a run of their own. The Stingers closed out the half by stopping the Bandits with some strong defensive play that gave Edmonton a chance to get back into the match and trim the lead to 60-57.

The Stingers would respond once again to start the second half, opening the third quarter with two quick baskets and taking a brief 61-60 lead. However, that was quickly erased as Vancouver connected on shot after shot to outscore Edmonton 20-4 and go up 80-69 at the halfway point of the third. The Stingers fought hard to get back into the game by knocking down some free throws from two technical fouls against Vancouver, but it just wouldn't be enough to surpass the Bandits.

Vancouver was in total control by the fourth quarter, up 97-81. Mason Bourcier tried to kickstart a Stingers comeback as he hit two threes to start the quarter and closed the gap to 101-95. But, Vancouver would weather the storm and bring their 112-101 lead into target time. And by then, it was just too late for the Stingers. The Bandits closed out the game 121-105 and snapped Edmonton's five-game home winning streak. 

Head coach Jordan Baker believed the team had chances to squeeze out a win, but saw areas of improvement the team could work on going forward.

"We were getting decent looks, quality shots," Jordan Baker said post-game. "Our urgency and our mental transition wasn't where we needed it to be."

Scottie Lindsey echoed his head coach's statements after the loss. 

"We can't let their guys get to where they want to get to and make it easy to turn the ball over," Lindsey said post-game. 

Both Lindsey and Baker spoke about how the loss is an opportunity to refocus ahead of the final four games of the season before the playoffs. 

"We did it to ourselves," Lindsey said. "They are obviously a good team. I think this game was more of us beating ourselves."

"We couldn't stop them enough to win a basketball game ... we can't give up 121 points," Baker said. "We've been on a decent run lately, winning eight of our last 10 ... today was a little bit humbling of what it takes to be a championship-level team." 

Edmonton goes to 10-3 in their last thirteen and is still within striking distance of Calgary for second in the Western Conference with four games left in the season.

The Stingers are right back at it against the Saskatchewan Rattlers at the EXPO Centre on August 3 @ 4:00 p.m. MT.