THEY may have gotten through to the finals by the skin of their teeth, but the Albury-Wodonga Bandits have established themselves as a championship threat.
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The Bandits produced possibly their finest performance for the season, travelling to defeat the Geelong Supercats 84-82 in the first semi-final on Saturday night.
A monstrous put-back dunk from the high-flying Greg Mays put the visitors two-points up with as many seconds left on the clock.
It would seem finals appearances and high-drama go hand-in-hand for the Border club.
The tantalising preliminary final, this time on the road against the Hobart Chargers, was set up on the back of genuine team play.
The Bandits simply refused to go away – three times Geelong were able to build a lead of seven or more, and three times the Supercats were reeled in.
Things looked a bit shaky with four and a half minutes to play in the final quarter when Geelong star Nathan Herbert bumped the margin out to seven.
But Jack Duck, who was thrown into the fray against his old side to great effect, immediately responded with a big triple to reduce the margin to four and keep hope alive.
A clutch defensive rebound from Duck with 20 seconds on the clock preceded the Nicholas shot and Mays put-back for the win.
Coach Brad Chalmers said the side showed courage to enter the game with a winning mindset.
“We do have a fair few competitors, they’ve got a lot of fight in them,” he said.
“Even when things aren’t going so well they come out and play hard.
”We knew the season wouldn’t matter going in, that we were back to 0-0.”
Nicholas (23 pts, 13 reb) and Mays (23, 11) led all comers on the scoreboard, while Clay McMath contributed 18 points with 3-7 shooting from outside the arc.
Deba George finished with 14 points, while Duck’s six-point, five rebound cameo was crucial.
“Jack was really good tonight, we’d locked him in to play some significant minutes in this game,” Chalmers said.
“He’s won a championship, he’s been in the heat of battle in finals, I knew I could trust him.
“Clay was fantastic, Greg was really solid. Everyone contributed.”
The only sour note was an injury concern over Darcy Harding, who rolled his ankle in the first half.
