The RetireInvest Ballarat Miners lost their fourth consecutive game at the hands of Southern Districts Spartans 107-98 in Brisbane on Saturday night.

Ballarat led the conference after defeating the Spartans on May 3, but a month later it is a completely different picture for coach Shane Mathison and his charges.

The Miners scraped home against Mt Gambier by three points on the back of the memorable win over Southern Districts.

Since then though it has been all downhill with losses to Nunawading, Australian Institute of Sport, Knox and now Southern Districts to be third.

As far as Ballarat is concerned, the Queen's Birthday long weekend break could not come at a better time.

Only a few weeks ago Mathison said he was pleased with the progress of the Miners.

That no longer applies.

They have thrown away the advantage early wins over the likes of Geelong Supercats gave them to be back in the pack and now fighting to stay in the top four.

Ballarat lost touch in the opening quarter to trail by 13 points.

Although it did get this back to single figures, the deficit blew out to as many as 23 before settling at 19 for the major break.

The Miners finally produced something like their best again in a resurgent third term with contributions from all players to go into the last 12 minutes just three points adrift.

Ballarat twice moved within one point and with seven minutes to play Southern Districts still had just a three-pointer buffer.

However, the effort told.

The Spartans stepped up with a series of triples and were home.

Southern Districts used just seven players and was able to share the duties sufficiently to get the job done as five scored in double figures.

Ballarat had similar outcomes, but was shaded across all areas to come up short.