Silver Bandits grab share of first place with victory

Zack Hall

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 11:28 a.m.

For the Las Vegas Silver Bandits the scenario was simple: Beat the last-place San Diego Stingrays and finally catch the first-place St. Louis Swarm atop the standings in the International Basketball League's Western Division.

The Silver Bandits did just that by outlasting the Stingrays 97-90 in front of 988 at the Thomas & Mack Center Tuesday night.

After falling to 3-10 in late December, the Bandits have gone 17-1 since to tie the front-running Swarm with a 20-11 record.

"I did (think we would get to first place)," said Silver Bandits head coach Rolland Todd. "We kept seeing different teams and we kept saying 'You know, I don't think there is anybody better than us.' I think we have balance and I think we can play a lot of positions."

With Las Vegas' second-leading scorer Harold Ellis -- who was absent for the birth of his child -- and starting guard Doug Lee (pulled hamstring) out, the Bandits still managed to have four scorers in double digits.

Forward Rocky Walls recorded his league-leading 21st double-double of the season, netting 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. J.R. Henderson led the Bandits with 20 points while grabbing 10 boards.

Up 56-41 at halftime, the Bandits appeared to have control of the game. But San Diego (5-24) went on a 19-4 run that started with 10:30 left in the third and ended with 5:52 remaining and the score tied at 62.

Stingrays forward Galen Robinson led San Diego with six points during the run.

"You have to give them a lot of credit," said Las Vegas point guard Isaac Burton, who scored 15 points and dished out eight assists. "They didn't die on us. They came out in the third quarter and came ready to play and we weren't. I guess we thought the game was over."