The Ballarat Miners have clinched their third win defeating rivals Bendigo Braves 87-73 in the South East Australian Basketball League at the Mars Minerdome on Saturday night.
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In front of a vocal home crowd, the GMHBA Miners led for majority of the first and second quarters in what was a tight contest, with scores level at both the first and second breaks.
But it was the Miners that were able to stamp authority on the game mid-way through the third quarter with nine consecutive points in less than two minutes.
From there, the Miners maintained and extended the lead for a convincing 14-point victory.
Coach Eric Hayes said crowd support had help spark the players against a competitive Braves outfit after a disappointing loss on home court last weekend.
“We just played better – we stuck to our structures and we stuck to our process a bit better tonight and when we do that we’re pretty good,” Hayes said.
Offensively the team was able to get the ball to the right person at the right time, Hayes said, with Marvin King-Davis, Craig Moller and Davon Usher each enjoying periods of dominance.
“When people were playing well and they were difficult to stop we got them the ball,” Hayes said.
Moller (25 points and 10 rebounds) and Usher (19 points and 13 rebounds) ended the game with double doubles, while King-Davis collected 21 points.
Hayes said the Miner’s ability to get multiple stops in a row had prevented Bendigo from getting into an offensive rhythm, but the team still needed to work on making it difficult for the opposition to score 80 points.
“In the first half we gave up 47 (points) and in the second half 26 so we want to be on that 26 side for both halves,” he said.
The Miners have three wins and two losses.