Vancouver Bandits big man Nick Ward did not want to share what was going through his mind.

The Vancouver Bandits big man was standing at the free throw with two chances to send his team to victory. Prior to his latest trip to the line, Ward had missed seven of his 11 attempts.

But his 12th try went straight through the cylinder, sending the Bandits to an 92-89 win over the visiting Saskatchewan Rattlers on Saturday night, June 17, at Langley Events Centre in Canadian Elite Basketball League action. The win – a third straight for Vancouver – improved the team to 4-4 while the Rattlers lost a fourth straight game and saw their record fall to 2-5.

“I can’t tell you that. I can’t tell you what was going through my head: there were a whole bunch of thoughts,” he said. “I had been missing my free throws, so it just put the stamp on the game. My teammates were encouraging me and they didn’t let me get my head down. It was a big time team win.”

Ward was a dominant force down the stretch, scoring 15 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter and Target Score time.

This was the fourth time in eight games Ward has led the team in scoring and Vancouver is 3-1 in those contests.

“When you are aggressive, we are aggressive. When you are the aggressor, we are the aggressor, and he was in the fourth. He was a leader by example,” Bandits head coach Kyle Julius said about the message to the team’s 6-foot-9 forward.

Bandits M.J. Walker was a triple threat Saturday, June 17, at Langley Events Centre as the Vancouver Bandits won a 92-89 victory over the visiting Saskatchewan Rattlers. (Vancouver Bandits/Special to Langley Advance Times)

The game started slowly as the two teams combined for five points in the opening five minutes with Saskatchewan leading 14-12 after a quarter. The lead stayed at two points through the half, but Vancouver came out in the third quarter and seized control, scoring the first 10 points and leading the entire second half.

The Bandits were playing their fourth game – in a different city every night – in the past nine days. Julius said in hindsight, the coaches should have cancelled a Friday practice as well as Saturday’s shootaround.

“Within five minutes, I could tell we were exhausted,” he said. “I didn’t really know the guys were as tired as they were.”

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At halftime, Vancouver switched to a zone defence to conserve energy, and they made a concerted effort to pound the ball inside to Ward.

The decisions paid off as the Bandits led the entire second half before closing out the victory.

While Ward led the team with 22 points and seven rebounds, Shane Gibson was right behind with 21 and Giorgi Bezhanishvili had 17, including going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Justin Wright-Foreman led all scorers with 35 points while Jermel Kennedy chipped in 14.

“This is the team we originally built. We have a nice ability to play two bigs or one big. We are starting to get comfortable,” Julius said.

Bandits’ Shaquille Keith prepared to pass Saturday, June 17, at Langley Events Centre as the Vancouver Bandits won a 92-89 victory over the visiting Saskatchewan Rattlers. (Vancouver Bandits/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Next up for the Bandits will be a visit to Winnipeg on June 21 before they return to Langley Events Centre to host the Calgary Surge on June 25. That game has a 5 p.m. tip-off and will be Indigenous Celebration Night.