Following two physical games at the weekend, Ballarat Miners forwards Josh Fox and Jerry Evans Jr have said they welcome intensity from other teams on the court.
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Speaking to the media at Sovereign Hill while promoting Ballarat Basketball's new 'City Edition' uniforms, the pair smiled and laughed while talking about their wins at the weekend against Bendigo and Albury Wodonga.
Fox found himself playing heavy minutes at the centre position over the weekend with his Miners teammate Deng Acuoth struggling with foul trouble in both contests.
Playing against two of the biggest and most physical players on the NBL1 in Bendigo's Ray Turner and Albury Wodonga's Torren Jones, Fox said he welcomes the challenge.
Watch Josh Fox talk about the challenge of guarding physical players in the NBL1:
"That's why we hit the weight room," he said, laughing and flexing his bicep.
"Ray Turner is strong but it was a good game, it's good to beat Bendigo on their home court and sweep all these country teams and cement our dominance over all of them.
The first time they played us I don't think they were prepared... on Sunday they came out ready, talking trash and playing hard.
- Josh Fox on the Miners game against Albury Wodonga
"We were a little disappointed with how we played against Turner so with Torren (Jones), Deng (Acuoth) and I just looked at each other and said "we're not letting it happen again."
In what was a very heated contest against the Bandits, Fox said the moment that turned the game in the Miners favour was when Jerry Evans Jr received a technical foul for shoving Jones after the two got tied up in the paint.
"We needed that because they were being a little physical with us and we got in foul trouble so we stopped being physical back. He went and did a bone-headed play and got everyone fired up," Fox said.
Battling through a shoulder injury he had sustained in the Bendigo game, Evans Jr was visibly fired up in his spiteful match-up against Bandits forwards Jones and Cirkook Riak.
Evans Jr said the players had exchanged some trash-talk in the Miners 63-point win over the Bandits earlier in the year.
Watch Jerry Evans Jr speak about his on-court intensity below:
"I guess it just started in the previous game in Albury, just a little back and forth chatting and it just carried over and was just one of those games," he said.
Evans Jr believes when the intensity of a game picks up, it always helps him perform better on the court.
"Oh yeah, 100 per cent it helps, it gets your energy going. Sometimes I can be flat and that kind of just helped me to keep going."
The intensity reached boiling point down the end of the game as Evans Jr knocked down a pair of three-pointers right in front the Albury Wodonga bench to extend the Miners lead.
After both makes, he turned and gave Jones some choice words as he ran down the court. When asked to share what he said, Evans Jr politely declined.
"I don't think I can say that here," he laughed.
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