A BALANCED offensive attack and stifling defensive intensity were the catalysts for an impressive weekend double from the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.
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The Border club routed the Ballarat Miners in both SEABL pre-season contests at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre, savaging the visitors 106-76 on Saturday before backing up for another comfortable 90-65 win yesterday.
Ballarat was missing two starters from its playing rotation and the Bandits were quick to capitalise, using a swarming defensive effort to great effect in both games.
Bandits coach Brad Chalmers was impressed with his squad’s performance, especially since US imports Donte Nicholas and Cory Dixon only arrived on the Border less than two weeks ago.
“It’s a good foundation to build on,” Chalmers said.
“We’ve only had two weeks with the group so to see that chemistry already was pleasing.
“Our defensive efforts were really strong and there’s some good benchmarks to improve.
“All-in-all, I’m really happy for us to look this good as a group so early.”
Impressively, Albury-Wodonga enjoyed an even spread of scoring in Saturday’s win, led by the ultra-smooth Nicholas with 23 points.
There was plenty of support for the athletic swingman, with Claybrin McMath pouring in 20 points — all before three-quarter-time — and Deba George (19), Cory Dixon (16) and Alex Bogart-King (13) also notching double-digit totals.
The short-handed Miners battled hard to open yesterday’s game but were again overwhelmed by half-time to trail by 16 points, leaving Chalmers satisfied with his team’s intensity at both ends of the floor.
“That’s the plan, we don’t want to have one guy averaging 25 points per game,” Chalmers said of the Bandits’ offensive balance.
“If we have that, then we’re clearly not using all our talent properly.
“We should have six guys in double digits most nights so it’s pleasing to see the scoring so well spread.
“Defensively, there was some really good intensity too.
“Our athleticism is noticeably different to previous groups; all the guys are fitting in well but we’ve still got plenty of work to do.”
The Bandits head to Bendigo next weekend for a pre-season clash with the Braves before the SEABL season tips off on April 11 against Canberra.