The Bandits have suffered losses on the road.
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In what was a tough test almost a month into the season, the Border outfit faced two unbeaten outfits.
Nunawading scored a six-point win on Saturday night, while Bendigo posted an 87-70 win on Sunday.
The Braves carried a three-nil record into the game and maintained the record with the visitors unable to match the home team’s depth.
Five players posted double figures, led by Ray Turner (21) and Chris Hogan (17).
Bandits’ import Lamar Mallory had a fine double with 24 and 10 rebounds.
He shot at 64 per cent from the field.
Fellow first-year player Rashad Hassan grabbed 15 points and Deba George 14.
The normally hot hands of George again struggled from distance, landing just one from five attempts.
Bendigo posted 23 points – more than a quarter of its tally – from turnovers, while the Bandits landed just 12.
Meanwhile, a horror showing from three-point range cruelled the Bandits’ hopes of unseating ladder leaders Nunawading the previous night.
The visitors shot an horrendous four from 33 attempts at a miserable 12 per cent in the 73-67 loss.
“You’ve got to shoot your shots, not only that, it was one of those games, it could go either way, either we’re hot or last night we weren’t,” forward Tevin Jackson said.
“That’s the beauty of back-to-back, you can always come back and get a win.”
You’ve got to shoot your shots, not only that, it was one of those games, it could go either way, either we’re hot or last night we weren’t.
- Tevin Jackson
Star guard George highlighted the club’s shooting woes.
Just a fortnight after a starring role against Mount Gambier and Melbourne Tigers, George didn’t land his four shots from two-point range and snared just one from 10 at three-point range.
Import Rashad Hassan defied the inaccuracy of a handful of team-mates to nab a game-high 20 points, firing 10 from 14, while fellow import Lamar Mallory also snared a pass mark of four from eight for 11 points.
Mallory also had 14 rebounds, while Jackson had 10 and 15 points.
“We didn’t follow through with a couple of defensive strategies and a couple more shoots that probably could have gone in, it was pretty bad (from three-point range)," Jackson said.
Nunawading shot at 44 per cent from the field and more than doubled the Bandits' output from distance with six from 19, at a sound 32 per cent.
Dain Swetalla scored 17 points, with support from Matt O'Hea (14) and Shane McDonald (14).
Despite their shooting issues, the Bandits will take heart that they were level with the best team at three-quarter time, before the Spectres edged ahead.
The Bandits went into the weekend’s final game in eighth spot, holding down the last position for playoffs, but they’ve now fallen to a three-three record.
Nunawading had won its first five straight games.