Led by MVP Tazé Moore, the Vancouver Bandits dominated CEBL awards and had fun doing it

Tazé Moore, the CEBL’s newly minted MVP, wants you to know he had fun— even despite his constant spats with referees.

“Everybody sees me on a night-to-night basis probably arguing with the refs but I love it man,” Moore said moments after winning the award on Wednesday night in Montreal.

“Overall this league is amazing. It gives guys like me time in the summer to come over, stay in shape and then time to go do what I need to do and also come back and forth as I please because they’re OK with it. It’s just beneficial all around.”

Moore’s Vancouver Bandits, who placed first in the Western Conference at 14-6, collected plenty of hardware as Kyle Julius won Coach of the Year and Koby McEwen, the Toronto native, was named Canadian Player of the Year.

Now armed with individual accolades, the trio will now lead the Bandits during Championship Weekend as the West Final will be contested on Friday at Verdun Auditorium.

“This team has been a lot of fun,” Julius said. “It’s kind of corny, maybe, but no matter what happens this weekend, I’m gonna be sad that we don’t have another practice, we don’t have another road trip. These guys are a lot of fun and they’ve worked really hard for me. I really care about them. It genuinely has been a fun summer.”

It is hard not to have fun when you have a season like the Bandits did, racing out to an early lead and never loosening their grip on top spot in the conference.

Championship Weekend has been in their sights for a while.

Still, all of Moore, McEwen and Julius said this team was special — so much so that Australian import Mitch Creek even convinced a few players to go skydiving recently.

And while Moore did not join, he said most other activities are done as a group.

“Me and Nick [Ward] have gone sturgeon fishing. We play cards every night. … If we got a plane ride the next day, we got nothing to do so we just stay up like kids. We just really act like brothers and teammates, you know what I’m saying? We fight, we argue, but we come back to each other, we love each other and we just show each other that we’re here for one another,” Moore said.

McEwen said it was easy to compile the stats he did – he was second in the league in three-pointers made — while playing next to Moore.

“He can draw all this attention, getting in the paint, and I was just doing the easy work, catching and shooting open shots. He was a big help for me. I know I made his life easier too. So we helped each other a lot,” McEwen said.

Julius said Moore’s MVP nod was a reflection of his individual ability, but also of a team as a whole that seemed to click right from the start of the season.

And while none of them want it to end, and for the team to disband, they at least hope to close things out with the CEBL championship trophy in hand.

“You don’t get teams like this often. It’s gonna be sad, but it’s gonna be a memory that we can make for a lifetime,” McEwen said.

A CEBL celebration

In general, spirits were high as the four teams involved in Championship Weekend — the Bandits, Surge, Montreal Alliance and Niagara River Lions — gathered for a gala event alongside many league and team staffers plus a few extra players in downtown Montreal.

It was a moment for players like Ottawa’s Lloyd Pandi, the Defensive Player of the Year, to reflect on their journey in the league.

“It helped me a lot in terms of building my confidence an gave me a platform to play basketball at a high level,” Pandi, the four year-veteran, said. “You’ve seen the increase in talent throughout the years and just really helped me build my confidence, shape my game and just become a better basketball player.”

Pandi piled up a record 44 steals this season, 14 more than the second-place player. He said it stemmed from his coaches.

“My coaches said they trust me, trust my instincts and go be a rover on the court. So from there on I took flight from that and I was really trying my best to anchor the defence from the perimeter side,” he said.

Winnipeg’s Simon Hildebrandt, the Developmental Player of the Year, was still playing at the University of Manitoba when the CEBL played its inaugural season in 2019.

“And then Winnipeg gets a team and then these last two years [are] the stepping stone that will lead to my professional career. It’s unbelievable how much this is gonna help me,” he said.

Aaryn Rai, the Markham, Ont., native and Niagara River Lions forward who won Sixth Man of the Year, said the league fills a gap that previously existed in Canadian basketball.

“I think it’s an awesome opportunity for a lot of Canadians to play close to home, close to family and friends and have a home in the summer, especially when there’s not much going on,” he said.