LANGLEY, BC –  Fraser Valley improved their win streak to four on Friday night with a 97-81 win over the Montreal Alliance.  Fraser Valley is now tied for first in the CEBL at 7-2 with Montreal at 3-7.

The Bandits opened the first quarter shooting hot and they didn't stop.  Kyle Adnam made a pair of threes and Esho found his footing around the rim in a first quarter led by Fraser Valley.  The Bandits jumped out to a 13-0 lead before Isiah Osborne made a layup to put the Alliance on the board. 

Fraser Valley shot 60 per cent from beyond the arc with six made threes coming from a mix of five different players.  Neither team got an offensive rebound in the first quarter but the Bandits 61 per cent shooting to go with their seven rebound advantage put Fraser Valley ahead 28-8 at the end of the quarter.

Montreal got their offence going in the second quarter thanks to Nathan Cayo and Osborne.  Inside the paint Cayo matched the physicality of Esho and Adam Paige and got himself 13 first half points on five of eight shooting.  Each time Montreal found their answer in the midrange with a jumper from Cayo or Osborne, Fraser Valley hit a three.  James Karnik and Gibson continued to hit from the perimeter to give the Bandits a 57 shooting percentage from long range at halftime. 

Both teams limited to just four offensive rebounds in the second quarter, efficient offence was important.  Fraser Valley’s 11 assists combined with their shooting held them at a double-digit lead throughout the quarter.  Esho shooting a perfect six for six and Karnik shooting four of six gave the Bandits 26 of their 55 first half points, and Osborne and Cayo combined for 26 for Montreal.  At halftime, Fraser Valley held a 55-32 lead over Montreal.

Montreal continued to find their rhythm offensively in the third quarter and it primarily came from Dominic Green.  Green scored 11 points in the third quarter including his own 7-0 run to cut the Alliance deficit to 79-58.  Despite Campbell and Gibson continuing to find their shots and execute, the Alliance got to the line by way of Kemy Osse and Alain Louis, and they cut the deficit to 12.  At the end of the third quarter, Fraser Valley led 80-68. 

The Alliance started the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run and the lead was cut to six for Fraser Valley, 82-76.  Thanks to the defence of Montreal, they got out in transition and found their spots on the run and Montreal took advantage.  Five early points from Cayo and a transition dunk from Osborne forced a Fraser Valley timeout with 7:18 left.  Coming out of the timeout, Gibson made a pair of threes to put the Bandits back at a double-digit lead, 88-76.  Going into Elam time, the target score was set at 97 with the score 88-76 in favour of the Bandits.

Gibson shot seven for eight from the perimeter to give him 25 points going into Elam time.  Cayo shot eight for 11 from inside to give him 23 points for the Alliance going into Elam time.  Karnik got to the free throw line for two points to start Elam time and Osse responded with a three to put the Alliance at 79 with the Bandits at 90.  Continuing to attack the rim, Gray got a layup to go and Campbell made two free throws to put Fraser Valley within three points of victory.  After a layup from Cayo, Duvivier got the ball in his hands and hit from long range to seal the Bandits victory.

Gibson finished with 25 points along with seven rebounds, three assists and a steal to lead the Bandits.  Esho scored 16 points to go with five rebounds and a pair of assists and blocks.  Karnik scored 16 off the bench to go with eight rebounds and Campbell added 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Cayo led the Alliance with 25 points and six rebounds.  Osse scored 14 points, got two rebounds, recorded an assist and two steals.  Osborne scored 15 off the bench with a rebound and three steals, and Green added 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Fraser Valley Head Coach Mike Taylor talked about the efficient three-point shooting of the team tonight and the movement of the offence, “I think that we had really good ball movement, we had really good spacing.  It’s one of those things that when one guy starts hitting them, Shane hit seven out of nine and the guys felt confident, felt good.  I think the team play was really good there today, I felt like our guys were playing together, moving the ball, looking for each other, and then we had good rhythm threes.  It was fitting Malcolm hitting that three at the end, Malcolm has been playing really well the past couple games so we’re really happy that he’s rounded into form.”