In what coach Nathan Cooper-Brown described as the toughest road trip in the league, the Ballarat GMHBA Miners overcame a mental battle in the first quarter to defeat North West Tasmania by 14 points on Saturday night in Ulverstone.

It came a night after a nine-point loss at the hands of the Hobart Chargers.

“It’s a really hostile place to play and there is a lot of travel that goes along with it, so splitting the road trip was a good result for us,” Cooper-Brown said.

“We weren’t switched on (early), in particular with defensive execution and also again with giving up offensive rebounds – they had 11 second-chance points in the first quarter.

“Once we locked that in, we started executing our switching and then started blocking out and limiting them to one shot, and we very quickly got ourselves back in the ball game.”

The Miners missed some of their key performance indicators, including fewer assists, more turnovers and less offensive rebounds. 

But Cooper-Brown was pleased the team only gave away three free throws and every Miner managed to hit the scoreboard, including Amos Brooks achieving his first points in the league.

Josh Fox was influential in both Tasmanian games, Miners captain Peter Hooley top scored with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Nic Pozoglou put to use his athleticism and his strength.