A strong third quarter helped the Vancouver Bandits earn an 87-78 win over the Niagara River Lions at the Meridian Centre on Saturday night, June 11, their second road game in as many days.

Bandits big man Nick Ward played bully ball in the paint against the CEBL’s reigning defensive player of the year, EJ Onu, on his way to 25 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

“It’s all about feeling,” said the NBA-experienced guard. “I just got to get the feel of the defence, how they’re defending me and how the refs are calling it.”

The River Lions went three and a half minutes without a field goal to start the third quarter, and the duo of Ward and Malcolm Duvivier fueled Vancouver to a 10-0 run. Vancouver held off a Badgers run in the fourth, going into target score time with a 77-72 lead, where Duane Notice won the game for Vancouver.

 “In this league, whoever plays harder usually wins,” Niagara head coach Victor Raso remarked afterwards. “The talent is pretty good across the board and I thought Vancouver played with the desperation that we needed to play with.”

Niagara drops to 2-4 on the season, while Vancouver improves their record to 2-4.

“I thought we played really well on a back-to-back since we were really terrible last night,” Vancouver head coach Kyle Julius said, referring to Friday’s loss to the Brampton Honey Badgers.

“Overall, I can see that there’s something in that locker room, there’s something there that we can really build on.”

On Friday, the Badgers recorded their fourth win in a row, 98-74 over the Bandits, with Brampton scoring 20 points at the basket in the first six minutes of the final frame.

MJ Walker led the Bandits with 26 points on an efficient 61 per cent shooting, knocking down four threes in the process. Ward was the team’s next highest scorer, tallying 21 points off the bench on 9-of-11 shooting and six rebounds.

Bandits will continue their road trip on Wednesday, June 14 against the Calgary Surge.

Vancouver’s next home game is Saturday, June 17 when the Saskatchewan Rattlers visit Langley Events Centre. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

A complete regular season schedule can be found at www.thebandits.ca/schedule.

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