The Centre of Excellence put up an impressive fight in the first half to enter the main break trailing by just 7, but the Bandits put the foot down in the second half to finish 36 points ahead.

After shaky defence cost them against Geelong last week, coach Brad Chalmers said he wanted his side to use the match to set the standard for weeks to come.

“What I was trying to get out of it was a standard and a tempo that we were comfortable with,” he said.

“I thought we were OK, but looking at the first half we probably weren’t quite there.

“We didn’t execute well, our pick and roll defence wasn’t great, and they shot at a good clip which didn’t help.

“But the second half was alright, our last quarter was good but those kids were getting tired after playing on Friday night.” 

While scoring has yet to be an issue for the Bandits this season, Chalmers said Saturday night’s game marked a step in the right direction defensively.

“I don’t want to take anything away from BA CoE, they were really good in the first half, constantly attacking us.

“Other than the pick and roll I thought we moved our feet better than we have in other weeks, we were a little bit more active with our hands.

“Rebounding was low because both sides shot at a good percentage.

“One of the things we’ll take away was that we contested really well.  

“There’s been too many games where we don’t contest enough, that’s an effort and execution thing.” 

Greg Mays led all comers with 27 points and 10 rebounds after battling the flu during the week, while Deba George finished with 21 points.

The starting five all finished with double figures, while Darcy Harding continued his good form with 11 points from the bench.

There are some injury concerns surrounding Jack Duck, who hyper-extended his knee in the second quarter and sat out the rest of the match.

Duck’s absence left the bench fairly thin on the ground, with Madol Chol and Sawyer Dearborn sitting out with injuries.

Dearborn is set to miss two to three weeks after injuring his ankle at training, which will increase the load on Harding and Jessy Wilson, who impressed in limited minutes on Saturday.

The Bandits face some tough assignments in the weeks to come, with road rematches against Geelong and Nunawading to come next weekend.

Both teams beat the Bandits at home this season.