THE 1200-strong crowd which squeezed into the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre on Saturday night to witness the Albury-Wodonga Bandits conference championship win was the difference between the two sides, according to Donte Nicholas.
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The Bandits prevailed in a nail-biting affair, 84-78, over perennial SEABL finalists Geelong.
"You can't even put a word to it," said Nicholas, one half with Cory Dixon of the Bandits’ dynamic import combination. "It's immeasurable the support that everybody's been giving us this year.
"I didn't know what to expect (coming in), but immediately you could see the town getting around us, as they say here, and supporting us and it was real good.
"I think they were probably like the sixth man today, without them, we probably wouldn't have won it."
Nicholas, who tallied 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the decider, said the title reflects the effort put in by the entire roster.
"Immediately coming in, we knew we had a special group — a lot of talent," he said. "But talent doesn't win anything, you gotta put the hard work in and the results are showing from it.
And he said they wouldn’t let up going into next week’s league title bid against Mt Gambier in Dandenong.
"If we put ourselves in the position to seize the opportunity like we did today, we can do it one more time,” he said. "Then we'll celebrate and bring it back to Albury-Wodonga.”
