THE Albury-Wodonga Bandits finished the road schedule of their SEABL season at the weekend without a win, going down to both the Hobart Chargers and the North West Tasmania Thunder.
It’s the second time in three years the Border club has not managed to taste victory away from the confines of the Albury Sports Stadium over the course of a season.
On Friday night, the Bandits put in a gritty performance that wasn’t quite enough to get them over the line against Hobart at Aurora Stadium.
After trailing by six points after one quarter, the Border outfit bounced back to lock the scores at 48-48 at half-time before the Chargers kept the visitors at arm’s length in the second half to record a 95-85 win.
Hobart playing-coach Anthony Stewart scored 26 points — including seven three-pointers — and dished out eight assists, while import Brandon Polk also scored 26 points and hauled down 13 boards.
But the most complete stat line of the night may have come from Hobart’s other import Chuck Long, who scored only eight points but grabbed seven rebounds, handed out six assists and blocked an incredible nine shots.
For the Bandits, Travis Gabbidon top-scored with 27 points while fellow import Ryan Bright added 23 points, 14 boards and five assists but had his shot blocked eight times, five of those by Long.
Skipper Nick Payne and Dan Briglia both scored 14 points but the Bandits were once again hampered by their lack of bench scoring, with Chris Maclaine (five points) the only substitute to trouble the scorers.
Payne said the team put in an encouraging performance against the Chargers but couldn’t quite pull off what would have been their second upset win over the Tasmanian outfit.
“It was a tough weekend, they’re both pretty good teams but we played pretty well on Friday night against a team that will play finals in two weeks,” Payne said.
“We just fell a bit short. I think we made a really good effort. Everyone played hard and with effort and intensity, and I think that showed on the scoreboard.”
While the loss to Hobart was disappointing, the 108-87 defeat at the hands of North West Tasmania was probably more a matter of the Border club simply running out of gas.
The Border club was outscored in every quarter, as Thunder imports Shawntes Gary and Michael Martin rained three-pointers on the visitors on their way to 33 and 22 points respectively.
In a dominant performance, all five Thunder starters cracked double digits, with Ben Armstrong hitting 20 points, former Bandits star Jeff Dowdell scoring 14 and guard Nick Haywood adding 10 points.
Once again, the Bandits Big Four provided the majority of the scoring, with Bright’s 21 points and 14 boards leading the way.
Payne scored 18 points, Gabbidon struggled to 16 points and Briglia added 15 points while Sam McDonald scored a career-high 7 points off the bench.
“We probably struggled a bit more on the Saturday against the Thunder,” Payne said.
“I think we ran out of legs a little bit and that showed. They (the Thunder) were a bit quicker up and down the court than us.
“The effort was still there but I think weary legs cost us in the end.”
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