RetireInvest Ballarat Miners did it impressively too, 118-104.

Coach Shane Mathison said it was appropriate to end the run of outs against the team which started it.

"It's important to break it.

"It can become mental thing," he said.

Mathison said the Miners had made several changes to its game over the mid-season break and there had been a definite improvement by playing to team rules "most of the time".

He said as important as the end result was, it was equally important the way the team had gone about it.

Mathison said although the scoreline might not indicate it with the Miners again giving up more than 100 points, they had picked up their game defensively.

Mathison was at his players from the word go to maintain their defensive pressure and while it meant a croaky voice by night's end it paid dividends.

Phil Benn lived up to the pre-match rap by Mathison.

Benn injected energy into the Miners game when introduced in the opening quarter, with five rebounds, and kept this going.

He finished with 12 rebounds, eight points and three steals.

Benn's two three-pointers earned a special mention from Mathison.

Mathison said adding three-point baskets to his repertoire forced rival teams to rethink how to play him.

Nathan Cavanagh was another important impact player for the Miners, complimenting 23 points to Marcus Toney-El and Jamal Brown's 27 points and 16 rebounds.