Peter Hooley impressed with 31 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Craig Moller offered a handy 23 points and seven rebounds in his return match for the Ballarat GMHBA Miners. 

It was the second time in a week the teams had met, with the Miners enjoying a 31-point win in their previous encounter. 

Miners coach Eric Hayes said he was happy with the adjustments made, noting playing a team multiple times had its own challenges.

“The important bit is that you can get complacent when you play a team a second time and they can scout you and understand a little bit more about what you do,” he said.

After a poor first quarter defensively, Hayes was impressed by the way the Miners finished off the game. 

“Each quarter was much better so it’s just making sure our defence is consistently strong and it is really important to get off to a great start,” he said. 

“We held them at 31 points I think in the second half, which is awesome.”

Hayes said the players had put into effect what they had been working on in training, but the key now was consistency. 

“Offensively we’ve been able to put up some pretty good scores, but defensively is where it is going to be important for us to hold teams to scores that we can beat,” he said.

Hayes noted Hooley’s shooting performance and the way in which Sam Short lifted the side defensively after missing last week, but he emphasised everyone played a role in the victory.

“I think we played some smart basketball at both ends, it was unselfish, it was just really good,” Hayes said.

The result brings the Miners to an impressive eight win, three loss record. They remain in second position on the south conference ladder.