Naar, William Hickey and Jock Perry were the dominant forces for the Miners who made it four on the trot, holding off a concerted fightback from Knox to record an 83-77 win.

But what stood out was the Illawarra point guard's cool head under enormous pressure in the second half as the powerful opponent came at the home side who refused to wilt, despite the visitors drawing level with just three minutes on the clock.

Indigenous Round was the perfect catalyst for William Hickey who looked spectacular in his Aboriginal flag headband as he played his best half of basketball all season, hitting 21 points before the major break.

Banished to the bench for the second of the double-header last week, Hickey responded in outstanding fashion, dominating his opponents to help the Miners set up a 12-point lead at the first change which they extended to 18 mid-way through the second period.

But you knew the Knox team, chock full of NBL starters, would not let the game slide. A time-out with 5.29 to go in the second quarter allowed them to regroup and they came back with a a 16-7 run to reduce the lead to just nine points at the major break.

To that stage in the game, Naar had been largely ineffectual, without a score on the board, but all that would change in a dynamic third quarter.

His aggression under the ring and confident shooting, allowed the Miners to stay in control despite Knox throwing their best shots. He hit 10 points for the quarter, when the rest of the team looked to be feeling the pinch.

The Miners took an 11-point lead into the last quarter, but Knox weren't done with yet as they drew back level with just over two minutes on the clock.

It was Naar who stood up in the clutch moments, a lay-up where he cut through the Knox defence gave Ballarat back the lead and then moments later, he drew a crucial foul, hitting both free throws to give the home side the a four-point gap with just 13 seconds to go.

From there, the Miners were able to hold on, Deng Acouth nailed another two clutch foul shots, and then top-scorer Jock Perry hit one of his two free-throws to ice the game for the home side.

Coach Brendan Joyce said the win was full of merit.

"There's three NBL players there, they're not ordinary players by any means, one is an Olympian" he said.

"I said to the boys, let's just be really aggressive and take it to them and I said, it's so important to take them out of their comfort zone.

"They had all momentum and we did have some mental breakdowns again at various times, but that's where Emmett came into play."

Joyce said the form of his team had picked up, but he wasn't looking at the ladder just yet.

"To be honest, I haven't looked at the ladder all year," he said. "We're just trying to get better and I know we can get better from tonight.

"There was some pressure situations and there are areas we know we can improve. We saw players tonight that we know can compete in the NBL against those players.

"We've just got to stay focused on continuing to get better from here."

The win moves the Miners to a 7-5 record and puts them well in contention for a play-off position, but they can't afford many more slip ups if they want to be part of post-season action.

The run of home games continues for the Ballarat team next Saturday when they host Dandenong Rangers. The Rangers went down to North West Tasmania 71-77 on Saturday night.