The Vancouver Bandits of the pro-Canadian Basketball league celebrated South Asian Heritage Game last Saturday night and it turned out to be a magic one as the Bandits dominated the Calgary Surge on their way to a 100-74 win. Before the game, fans were greeted to a Dhol-Dhamakka at the entrance followed by a special centre court performance by Punjabi hit-maker Shary Mann, who rocked the Langley Event Centre with his Punjabi hits. 

By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor DESIBUZZCanada

LANGLEY - The Vancouver Bandits of the pro-Canadian Basketball league celebrated South Asian Heritage Game last Saturday night and it turned out to be a magic one as the Bandits dominated the Calgary Surge on their way to a 100-74 win.

Before the game, fans were greeted to a Dhol-Dhamakka at the entrance followed by a special centre court performance by Punjabi hit-maker Shary Mann, who rocked the Langley Event Centre with his Punjabi hits. 

Shary is a pure singer and sounds as good or better live as he does on tape but some connected to the event were questioning whether he was actually singing to a taped music performance with a live dholi and suggested he was lip-synching. 

According to his management-booking team that DESIBUZZCanada spoke to, Shary sang to taped music as scheduled as per contracted by event organizers but not sure if his vocals were live as I was told by some whisperers that he lip-synched but it sounded good. Shary is always good for some controversy but he is a great singer.

For this special night there was a large Punjabi, Indo-Canadian crowd so it should really be called Punjabi Heritage Game Night as Dhol and Punjabi beats dominated the stadium as the crowd built to near full house. 

Bandits won the first two games of the season but dropped a close one on the road but the up-tempo Punjabi vibe definitely got them pumped up as they dominated the Surge Saturday night and win big with the final score 100-74!

Zach Copeland poured in 28 points to lead the Bandits (3-1) over Surge (0-3) as he continued his hot start for the Bandits, knocking down six shots from beyond the arc on 46 per cent shooting, and adding two rebounds and two seals in the win. By 

Following Saturday’s win, the Bandits continued their winning streak by rallying to 93-90 Win and snap Edmonton Stingers’ undefeated start

Nick Ward and James Karnik's double-doubles led the Vancouver Bandits (4-1) back from a 12-point deficit on Tuesday to beat the Stingers 93-90 and hand Edmonton (4-1) its first loss of the season.

The forward duo accounted for 40 per cent of the Bandits' scoring production and over 50 per cent of their boards as Ward finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Karnik added 16 points and 13 rebounds of his own.

The win put Bandits in first place in their Western Division and they play Friday (tonight) as they go up against the Calgary Surge again, hoping to beat them again, this time on the road.