Bandits steal the show at CEBL awards night

Mitch Creek may never play a CEBL game again, but the Vancouver Bandits forward’s season still finished on a high note, taking home MVP honours at the 2025 CEBL Awards, hosted in downtown Winnipeg on Thursday.

Creek ended his 2025 season with a touch of controversy last Saturday after his squad was knocked out in the semifinals against the Calgary Surge.

After the game, which the Bandits lost 105-103, Creek called out the league’s officiating, saying the CEBL had “taken an enormous step back in respect on the world stage” and declaring, “I’ll never play in this league again.”

A few days later, the Australian won the league’s top individual player award, representing what was nothing short of an impressive regular season.

Creek finished second in league scoring with 24.4 points per game and played a central role in leading the Bandits to a league-best 19–5 record.

The MVP runner-up was Sean East II of the Edmonton Stingers, who set a new CEBL single-season scoring record with 546 points.

Creek was not present at the awards, in Europe after being signed with Romanian club U-BT Cluj-Napoca for the 2025-26 season.

“Thank you to the CEBL for the nomination,” said Creek on a Bandit’s social media post. “MVP’s are not what we all play for. I like to think that it’s the discipline showing up every day, doing the little things, motivating your teammates behind closed doors. Everything that no ones sees go into it, except from what everyone else sees on a Saturday night when the lights are on. Thats what really counts, that’s why this award is special.

“To the CEBL, the product is growing, it’s getting there, its getting better, it’s becoming world recognized now, keep pushing the league to new heights” said Creek. “We may not have everything ironed out and perfect and some of the comments I made may not have been perfect for you guys either, but from the bottom of my heart I have loved being in the CEBL. I did say I may not come back again, but you never know, the Bandits are pretty good at swaying me with just the love and the feel that they bring.”

Creek’s achievement was one of the highlights on a night dedicated to celebrating the league’s best, as the 2025 CEBL Championship Weekend kicked off in style at the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre — where fans, players, coaches, league executives and media gathered for the awards — the first official event of the festivities running Aug. 21–24.

Notably, the host team Sea Bears came away without any nominations, while the Bandits stood out, their talent highlighted throughout the evening.

Creek’s teammate, Tyrese Samuel, earned top honours for Canadian players, winning the Canadian Player of the Year award in what was the forward’s first season in the CEBL.

“It means a lot,” said Samuel. “Those last couple years have been kind of slow for me, but coming to the CEBL was a good decision that my agent came up with in order to get back my rhythm and gain back a little bit of confidence. And I feel like this year was that for me, and I’m highly grateful for Vancouver.”

Samuel, the only player to win multiple awards, added to his haul by earning Clutch Player of the Year after recording six target-score winners in 15 games played this season.

“Just going out there with a killer mindset every game and you know, trying to assert my dominance so you know, I’m felt around the league,” said Samuel. “And it’s not like a, ‘He does it sometimes,’ it’s just like, ‘He’s there every game,’ and we gotta make sure we come with our a-game when I step on the floor.”

Samuel was the only player in the league to average more than 20 points (21.4) and 10 rebounds (10.8) per game.

Leading the league in field goal percentage (65.9), ranking third in rebounds per game, and tied for third with eight double-doubles, Samuel’s first season could not have gone better; it was only missing a spot in the CEBL’s final four in championship weekend.

“It’s been fun,” said Samuel. “It was super fun. I feel like, especially with the team that we had this year, we obviously didn’t lose that much. Obviously we lost last game, but it’s been fun every game. I never got to travel around Canada, that’s one thing I was grateful for playing in this league, got to go to all the different provinces and the cities and just seeing the fans and seeing how basketball around Canada is actually, it’s very big, people are really taking notice to it.

“I feel like every year the league’s just gonna get better, and we’re just putting Canada basketball — it’s on the map right now, but it’s just growing more and more,” said Samuel. “As long as there’s good Canadians in this league, the sky’s the limit.”

Coach of the Year went to the Bandits’ Kyle Julius, as Vancouver went home with the most awards of all teams, with four across the board.

For Winnipeg Sea Bears fans in attendance, Calgary’s Jameer Nelson Jr. will be noted as a player to watch in the Western Conference final on Friday, as the 24-year-old was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Nelson Jr. set a new CEBL single-season record with 57 steals in just 19 games. His average of three steals per game led the league by a full steal over the next closest competitor, MVP candidate Sean East II.

Other individual player awards went to Zane Waterman of the Ottawa BlackJacks, who was named Sixth Man of the Year, and Isaac Simon of the Saskatchewan Rattlers, who earned Developmental Player of the Year.

The Fox 40 Officiating Recognition Award was presented to Karl Toulouse for excellence in officiating.

All-CEBL First, Second, and All-Canadian team selections were also announced with Winnipeg’s Simi Shittu was named to the All-CEBL First Team and All-Canadian Team.

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca