Outplayed by the Geelong Supercats throughout the first half, the Bandits needed to switch on in the second half to avoid a heavy defeat.

Trailing by 14 at the half, a much tighter defensive effort allowed the home side to grind their way back into the match.

They were able to outscore the Cats in the third and fourth periods but it ultimately wasn’t to be, with the Bandits going down 97-94.

Co-captain Jack Duck said improving their defensive efforts was the message handed to the by coach Brad Chalmers at half-time.

“Defensively we just just had to cut out the mistakes we were making,” he said.

“We were leaving shooters open and that led to Nathan Herbert (31 points) torching us in the first half.

“We improved in the second half, we really tightened up.

“They only scored 21 and 16 after half-time which was an improvement.” 

It was a similar story on the offensive end, with the likes of Deba George putting average first half performances behind them to finish strongly.

George (17 points), Clay McMath (20, 7 rebounds), Greg Mays (23 and 16) and co-captain Donte Nicholas (29 points, 4 steals) all lifted after the main break.

“Our offence is always going to come, but our biggest problem at the moment is that we’re still letting other teams score just as heavily,” Duck said.

“Our second half was good, but now we need to translate that into a full 40 minutes.

“We were moving the ball much better after half-time and getting better looks.

“If you do that the points will come, and they did.

“At the end of the day, a loss is a loss.” 

With Darcy Harding improving by the week, Duck said it was up to the likes of himself, Sawyer Dearborn and Ben Kearins to step up and match him.

“Our bench probably needs to step up a bit, myself and Sawyer need to get it together,” he said.

“Darcy has been good over the past couple of weeks, he’s learning what he is and isn’t capable of very quickly.” 

The co-captain said import Greg Mays was also showing signs of his ongoing improvement with an impressive double-double.

“This is his first professional gig, he’s come to another country and had to learn how the referees call things, the physicality of the league,” Duck said.

“It was always going to be tough for him to adjust to that.

“I think he’s been getting better every week, hopefully he keeps it up.” 

The Bandits take on the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence next week.