Ballarat Miners will take full advantage of their pace game when they meet the tall and athletic North-West Tasmania in a home clash at the Minerdome on Sunday.
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Coach Nathan Cooper-Brown said watching North-West’s first two South East Australian Basketball League games – a victory over Kilsyth and a loss to Hobart – had provided the club with some good material to work from and confidence going into round three.
But Cooper-Brown said the team was well aware of the strengths of the opposition and the work required to secure victory.
“The whole league is really good this year – everybody went out and recruited hard, teams have spent more money and SEABL is on its way back to being the league that it once was,” he said.
“We have to respect these guys and we are going to have to work our tails off to get our win on Sunday.”
Cooper-Brown said seven-foot Darcy Malone, a development player with the Sydney Kings in the National Basketball League, in the front court and Mason Bragg, a development player with Perth Wildcats, were among the talent at Thunder capable of having a big impact.
But after last week’s loss to Centre of Excellence, the Miners were more focused on their own game and making sure they played their best brand of basketball.
“There are three things that we pulled out of our loss,” Cooper-Brown said.
“Dealing with pressure, defensive intensity and execution, and shot selection, those have been our focuses this week, so it has really been more about us rather than them.”
With a fit and healthy list, the coach said he expected another strong effort from leader Peter Hooley in his second game back with the Miners and a big game from Marvin King-Davis.
“Marv is ultra talented, ultra athletic, we feel like he is ready to have a break out game,” Cooper-Brown said.
“And Sam Short is another one who hasn’t been happy with his performances up until this point and he is a real competitor, so I expect him to come out on Sunday firing on all cylinders.”
The Miners are hoping to put Tasmania on the back foot with a few strategies up their sleeves as well as capitalising on their strengths.
“We’re small but we have the ability to run the floor and create scoring opportunities and transition,” Cooper-Brown said.
“Our ball movement, our unselfish style, we think that’s difficult to guard… and, defensively, we are going to be quite disruptive.”
The team is excited to return to the Minerdome in a triple header Sunday fixture.
“We have the best fans in SEABL and any time we get to come and play on our home floor it is really a gift and we can’t wait to give our fans a show,” Cooper-Brown said.
Both Miners and Thunder have a win and a loss to open their season accounts.