Vancouver Bandits fall to Calgary Surge in first loss of the season

JEN FIELD/ GATG

All streaks must come to an end, which was the case on June 1, 2025 at the Langley Events Center. The Vancouver Bandits couldn’t sustain the momentum needed to catch the Calgary Surge in a 95-80 loss.

The Bandits sat first in the Western Conference and overall in the league with five wins. This was thanks to two solid wins on the road, consisting of their first face off against the Winnipeg Sea Bears this season and a rematch against the Edmonton Stingers.

The post road-trip fatigue started to show, Calgary won the tip off and came close to getting the first basket with a layup attempt. 

The ball stayed out and Tyrese Samuel rebounded it, taking off until he stumbled midway down the court. Mitch Creek was able to get possession of the ball not long after that and score the first two points of the game. However, the rocky start signaled that Vancouver was in for a tough night.

By the five minute mark, Vancouver was down by four points. Mitch Creek had made two field goal attempts, but could not secure a point. 

Kyle Mangas tried a three point shot that swirled around the rim before bouncing into a Calgary player’s hands leading to a successful three point shot for the visitors.

Both teams played a physical game, with field goals and three-point attempts evenly split between the teams. 

By the end of the first half, Vancouver had made 37 field goal attempts while Calgary had made 39, but the home team had only made 35.1% of those shots versus the visitors 41%.

Calgary Head Coach Kaled Canales had nothing but praise for the battle that the Bandits brought; “We know they're a great team, man, this is basketball. It's a game of runs, you know?...they're a great team. They're gonna have a great season. They're well coached, lot of respect for Coach and his staff. And you know, we know it's gonna be a battle every time we play them.”

Basketball is a game of runs indeed, as was reflected in the second half. It started just as awkwardly as the first for the home team.

There were a couple of misplays in the defense zone before they moved down court for an attempt that would make it into the basket but not count due to a foul made mid-shot.

Isaiah Brockinton and Kyle Mangas both missed on three-point attempts, though Brockington did finally get one a moment later. There was no time to build on that though, as Gabe Osabuohien and Khyri Thomas hit back-to-back layups for the Surge leading to the Bandits coaching staff calling for a timeout 2:29 into the third quarter.

The timeout did not do much to refocus the team. Michael Nuga ended up out of bounds while trying to throw the ball back to a teammate. 

Samuel was almost wrestled to the floor by Osabuohein who successfully stole the ball from him before passing it to Sean Miller-Moore for a Surge basket leading to the Bandits taking a second timeout in the third quarter with 5:20 left on the clock. 

By this point, the home team was lagging behind by thirteen points.

The fourth quarter was when Vancouver started to show a bit of rhythm that had led to the previous five consecutive wins, thanks to an eleven point performance from Curtis Hollis.

Hollis succeeded on all three of his three-point attempts that quarter, the third of which he sank after the Bandits capitalized on a fumble by the Surge in their own defensive zone, bringing them within four points of the opposing team.

Hollis spoke briefly about his spark in the fourth quarter; “The ball just finally, you know, hit my hands a couple times. You know, I've been looking for it all game. You know, sometimes it goes like that…once it came to me, I just stayed aggressive.”

There was a brief glimmer of aggression and energy that Vancouver had shown in the previous five games in those next few minutes before Target Score time. 

Creek made another field goal, Hollis had a great chance for one before getting knocked down by an opposing player, and Mangas made another three-point basket.

That momentum came to a halt when a whistle in the last four minutes led to the Target Score being announced, with an additional timeout added on. Right off the bat, Tyrese Samuel was disqualified after fouling for the fifth time that night. 

The Surge began to pull away again while the Bandits rhythm ebbed, until the visitors finally ended the game with the winning basket.

Coach Kyle Julius felt that tonight’s efforts had to do with the team’s energy levels; “You know, to be honest, we got a lot of wide open shots…I think we got more wide open shots today than any other game we've played. I think we just didn't make them…Sometimes, with travel and everything else, we just take it on the chin and keep moving.”

Curtis Hollis shared a similar sentiment while giving props to Calgary; “I mean, they fought really hard. You can tell they really wanted this one tonight. We probably made a couple mistakes, you know, like scouting reports, rebounds, you know, turn the ball over. So, you know, we just got to bounce back. That happens.”

The Bandits have a chance to rest up and learn from Sunday night’s game before hosting the Ottawa Black Jacks at 7pm on Friday, June 6, 2025.

*A Field Goal in Basketball is any basket that is not a Free Throw, though it’s often used to refer to layups and dunks as that what a majority of the baskets and attempts end up being.