Bandits top Stingers in regular season finale, keep quarter-final bye hopes alive

The Fraser Valley Bandits defeated the visiting Edmonton Stingers 86-80 in a critical game for playoff positioning as the Canadian Elite Basketball League's 2022 regular season draws to a close on Monday.

With so much up in the air in the final weekend of the CEBL season, the last game of the regular season for both the Stingers and Bandits was a pivotal one.

Fraser Valley entered the game with the chance to finish as high as second place or as low as sixth, whereas Edmonton had the opportunity to climb as high as third or fall as low as seventh.

The logjam in the middle of the standings will be sorted out on Sunday afternoon, when the Scarborough Shooting Stars (11-8) take on the Newfoundland Growlers (6-13) at 12:00 p.m. ET, and the Hamilton Honey Badgers (14-5) face the Niagara River Lions (12-7) at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Both games can be seen live on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the free CBC Sports app.

The Bandits started hot, going up by as much as 11 in the first quarter. But the Stingers battled back to tie the game halfway through the second frame, taking the lead into the half at 44-40.

The see-saw tipped all the way to Edmonton's side in the third quarter when they stretched the lead to 11 themselves.

Fraser Valley, however, clawed their way back to even only two minutes into the fourth quarter, and took a four-point lead into the Elam Ending.

The home team never trailed the rest of the way, closing the game out on a Brandon Gilbeck free throw.

Big dawg. Malc dawg.