Bandits cruise past Gary

Victoria Sun

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 11:38 a.m.

In welcoming one of the newest teams to join the International Basketball League, the Las Vegas Bandits made door mats out of the Gary Steelheads Thursday night.

The Bandits crushed the Steelheads from start to finish for a 120-89 victory before an announced crowd of 2,645 at the Thomas & Mack Center. The 31-point drubbing was the largest margin of victory in the Bandits' two-year history.

"It was our best performance of the year by far," Bandits head coach Lionel Hollins said. "We had a lot of respect for our opponent so our mental focus was very high.

"We rebounded well, defended well and ran the break right."

The Bandits (19-10) returned home to host the Steelheads (1-3) after a five-game road trip.

Gary was one of five Continental Basketball Association teams to join the IBL after CBA owner Isiah Thomas decided to sell each team back to its original owner and disband the league.

Bandits forward J.R. Henderson scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting and dished out a career-high eight assists. Las Vegas' Mike Jones contributed 15 points while Damian Jones grabbed 11 rebounds and Eddie Gill had nine assists.

Henderson was effective at helping Doug Swenson and Wayne Tinkle shut down Gary centers Lorenzo Coleman and Neil Edwards. Coleman, 7-foot-1, made just 1-of-3 shots and Edwards, 6-11, finished with 13 points.

"J.R. played well," Hollins said. "His defense was one thing that I was looking at.

"As you can see, teams in the CBA have some size and we did a good job defending."

The Bandits' stifling defense forced Gary to commit 29 turnovers and shoot 39.7 percent from the field. Las Vegas had 17 more assists than the Steelheads and four more steals.

In the first quarter Las Vegas went on a 14-0 run capped by Mike Jones' 3-pointer for a 20-9 lead.

Similar runs in each subsequent quarter left the Steelheads in ruins. When a Gary player wasn't called for a travel, he was shooting an air ball or losing the ball in traffic to the Bandits.

"I think that our guys stepped up to the challenge," said DeeAndre Hulett, who scored 13 points for the Bandits. "We were hearing from the coaches how good Gary was.

"Everybody had on their minds that we wanted this game more than they did and we went out to get it."

The team was also relieved to play a different opponent than the five it had been playing before the CBA teams joined the IBL.

The Bandits' next home game will be March 4 at the Thomas & Mack Center against New Mexico at 5 p.m.