Nighthawks bounced out of CEBL quarter-finals

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – The Guelph Nighthawks saw their Canadian Elite Basketball League season come to an end Sunday when they were dropped 104-84 by the Fraser Valley Bandits in quarter-final playoff action.

The loss marked the second consecutive season that Guelph lost its quarter-final match.

The Nighthawks never led Sunday.

The teams combined for five missed shots, three by the Bandits, before the hosts opened the scoring with a three-pointer a minute and a half into the contest.

Fraser Valley led 24-15 at the end of the first quarter, 58-35 at halftime and 88-65 at the end of the third quarter.

Michael Bryson led the Nighthawks with 24 points while Cat Barber had 12, Myles Charvis 10 and Olu Famutimi and Matt Neufeld nine apiece. Bryson and Neufeld each pulled down six rebounds while T.J. Lall had Guelph’s lone block and Ahmed Hill had three steals.

Brandon Gilbeck had a game-high 26 points for Fraser Valley and he was followed by Malcolm Duvivier with 21, Kenny Manigault with 16, Shaquille Keith with 14 and Alex Campbell with 13. Gilbeck also had 10 rebounds and three blocks while Keith had nine assists and two steals.

Fraser Valley advances to the league’s Championship Weekend at Edmonton. They’ll play the Niagara River Lions in Friday’s semifinal at 7 p.m. while the Edmonton Stingers are to play the Ottawa BlackJacks at 9:30 p.m. Ottawa gained its place in the semifinals with a 96-94 quarter-final win over the Hamilton Honey Badgers Saturday at Hamilton.

Edmonton finished atop the league standings at the completion of the regular season at 13-1 while Niagara was second at 10-4. Following were Hamilton at 9-5, Fraser Valley at 7-7, Guelph at 5-9, Ottawa at 4-10 and the Saskatchewan Rattlers at 1-13.

Friday’s winners advance to Sunday’s final.

• Guelph Sports Journal