IN the depths of a cold, miserable SEABL winter, Matt de Koeyer gave the Albury-Wodonga Bandits the warm taste of victory at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre last night.
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The reserve guard nailed a shot in the lane with 0.3 seconds remaining to hand the Border club a thrilling 101-99 victory over a plucky Brisbane Spartans outfit.
De Koeyer’s match-winning heroics capped an entertaining and at times ill-tempered affair, with the visitors almost forcing overtime after trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half.
The Bandits were led by superb performances from Alex Opacic (24 points), Nick Payne (23 points) and Lamar Mallory (22 points, 11 rebounds), while de Koeyer added a decisive 14 points off the bench.
Brisbane’s scoring spread of six players in double digits was spearheaded by the evergreen C.J. Massingale, who nailed four triples in his 19 points as a reserve.
Bandits coach Brad Chalmers said the Border outfit deserved to win despite “losing our way” for a period during the third quarter.
“It was a good win, we were pretty good for most of the game,” Chalmers said.
“We had some patches where we lost our way and they (Brisbane) made some big shots.
“We just couldn’t make a basket for a while there in the third quarter.
“But we battled and battled and we probably did ourselves a disservice by having to win it at the buzzer.
“Outside of that though, I’m pretty happy and we got another win and that’s what it’s all about.”
Earlier, the teams traded baskets, the Bandits pushing hard late in the quarter to take a 36-26 lead at the first break.
The Bandits continued their crisp ball movement to start the second period, an Opacic basket giving the hosts a 45-31 advantage with a tick over seven minutes left in the half.
But Brisbane proved it was made of sterner stuff, trimming the deficit to a narrow 57-53 at half-time.
The arm wrestle continued throughout the third quarter, but tempers flared with five minutes left in the period after Scott Kenny was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Payne.
Holding a slender 82-80 margin with 10 minutes to play, the Bandits needed breathing space but Brisbane refused to go away.
However, a technical foul on Brendan Teys for arguing and then a big triple from de Koeyer gave the hosts a 99-92 advantage with 60 seconds remaining.
And yet again, the Spartans wouldn’t quit, tying the game at 99-99 with 4.2 seconds left on an Isaih Tueta lay-up, setting the stage for de Koeyer’s heroics.
