BALLARAT basketball legend Daniel Joyce has played his last game with the champion Miner hanging up his shoes for the last time on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It wasn't the dream ending he had hoped for with the home side going down to Kilsyth 61-50, despite holding a six-point lead deep into the third quarter.
But there was better news for the team on Sunday which regrouped strongly, powering away from the Melbourne Tigers to win 92-77 and keep their play off hopes alive.
But all attention at the weekend needed to be focused on Joyce, who returned to the line-up this season after recovering from an achilles tendon injury which kept him out of the game for 12 months.
Unfortunately his teammates weren't able to give him the send off he deserved as the Miners played one of their worst games of the season against a side which was nothing more than a blue-collar outfit.
With the Miners having the likes of Sam Short, fresh off an NBL title winning game with Melbourne United and on-paper, talent to burn, they should have been too good for the Cobras team.
Short started with some big three pointers in the first quarter, but incredibly his three buckets were the only three long shots the team hit for the whole night, shooting at a woeful 9.68 per cent or three from 31.
But other than Deng Acouth who did his best to light up the sparse stadium in the third quarter, before finding himself in foul trouble, the rest of the team simply didn't show up.
With the game remaining close for three quarters, the Cobras could sense they were in the contest and some clutch three pointers of their own just before the three-quarter-time break turned the momentum in favour of the visitors as they ran away to a convincing win.
Fortunately Sunday was much stronger effort from the Miners when they took full control in the last quarter, powering away to a 15 point win over the last-placed Tigers.
Set the daunting task of back-to-back games, the Miners put the disappointment of the night before behind them with a 29-16 last quarter which broke the spirit of the hosts who had stayed within two points to the last change.
Short played his role to perfection, setting up the likes of William Hickey and Matt Kenyon, who between them had 40 points in one of the first real team efforts the side has put together all season.
Zac Dunmore was another to benefit from the team ethos, hitting 10 points in his 14 minutes on court while Jock Perry had 12 points and 12 rebounds in a strong game under the basket which saw him bring down five offensive boards as well.
The shooting percentage which sat at just 32 per cent on Saturday night, climbed to just under 45 per cent, giving a much needed confidence booster.
The Miners will know if that win on the road has helped turn their fortunes around when they clash with fourth-placed Nunawading in what looms as a big test of their play-off credentials at home on Saturday night. They then back-up against sixth-placed Diamond Valley away on Sunday.