Edmonton Can't Match Bandits' Intensity in Tournament Opening Loss

 

Reigning CEBL MVP Xavier Moon recorded 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks in the losing cause, while Adika Peter-McNeilly led Edmonton with 18 points off the bench and Brody Clarke chipped in with 16 points and five rebounds.

 

Cameron Forte had 28 points and 10 rebounds in the victory for Fraser Valley.

 

“You never want to come out of the gates flat, but that’s what we did and we immediately found ourselves behind the eight ball,” said Clarke. “We knew what we were facing and we didn’t prepare well enough and we have to look back at ourselves and realize we need to be better. We played catch-up the entire game.”

 

Fraser Valley jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the opening three minutes of the contest and continued to put pressure on the Stingers jumping out to a 20-7 lead just over midway through the opening quarter.

 

Edmonton trailed 32-19 after the first quarter and Fraser Valley continued to take the offence into another gear as they didn’t trail the entire game. The Bandits shot 48% from the field and the Stingers struggled to keep pace with Fraser Valley.

 

“We spend a lot of time talking defence. It’s one of our staples, but that’s not the way it came down today,” said Clarke. “We have to find it within ourselves and we have to be better tomorrow. We have to make an effort as a team to dig deep and make it personal to stop the guy in front of us. Today we didn’t have that.”

 

The Stingers came out strong in the second half closing the large gap to within 10 points on the strength of back-to-back three-pointers from guard Mathieu Kamba, who tallied 15 points for Edmonton, but Fraser Valley in turn went on an 11-0 run to extend their lead and make it tough for any comeback.

 

Edmonton trailed 102-80 as the Elam Ending began and tried desperately for the big comeback, but came up empty.

 

“We didn’t match up well in transition and we didn’t do a good enough job keeping the ball out of the hands of Cameron Forte,” said Clarke. “They came out and played at a much higher tempo and they had their energy going and were cheering each other on from the start and we couldn’t stop it.”

 

The tournament opening loss against Fraser Valley marks the first-ever loss to the Bandits in franchise history. Edmonton posted a perfect 4-0 record against their western rivals in 2019, but Edmonton struggled to find any answers to the potent offence that was on display from the Bandits.

 

“We couldn’t defend for nothing. At the end of the day it was self-inflicted and they made us pay for every mistake we made,” said Stingers head coach Jermaine Small.

 

“We got punched in the mouth. It happens, but we have to get back and keep working. We’ll be ready tomorrow. No question. We’ve always responded well in the past. The guys don’t feel good with what happened, and they know how important the game is (versus Ottawa).”

 

Edmonton (0-1) will play their first of two sets of back-to-backs in the Summer Series when they face the expansion Ottawa Blackjacks (0-1) for the first time on Monday at 5:30 p.m. (ET).

 

NOTABLES: A trio of Stingers made their debut on Sunday. Mambi Diawara made his first start with Edmonton and recorded 12 points, two rebounds and two assists, while power forward Sascha Kappos and guard Kareem South made their pro debuts. Kappos recorded two points, two rebounds and one block in six minutes of action, while South scored four points and one rebound.