Ararat Redbacks and Stawell Wildcats did battle in round nine on Saturday night in Ararat.
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A barnstorming last quarter to the Redbacks delivered at 35-8 final term, that blew the margin out to 52 points.
Wildcats were missing some key players due to unavailability.
Wildcats' coach Alistair Beard said while the margin was disappointing, there were some positives which came out of the game.
"We were able to integrate a few new players into the side," he said.
"We had some players who played well.
"Our turnovers let us down and offensive rebounds really let us down. Take them away and the game would have been so much closer."
Wildcats backed up their Saturday night game, taking on Millicent Magic on Sunday at home.
Beard said he was impressed with how the players held their head high and didn't let the game blow out.
"Our fourth quarter was definitely our best," he said.
"In our last four weeks, the games have blown out. The 20-point lead blows out to 40-60.
"We set ourselves a goal not to drop our heads and really fight for every contest.
"Apart from the threes that dropped in the last it was a pretty close contest."
Beard said Adian Marr impressed him in both games on the weekend.
"He didn't give up. He kept throwing his body in and kept driving to the basket," he said.
"He didn't drop his head although there was some opportunity for him to do that.
"I was happy with Xavier Carreras as well. He was getting held a lot of the game and was feeling frustrated.
"In the last he was getting free and getting his game going again. For a 16-year-old kid, a lot of the game is mental and learning to fight through."
A lot of the players from across the region are footballers. Beard said it was hard to find the right balance between players' football skills and basketball.
"You just have to keep re-enforcing and repetition about the task at hand," he said.
"Take away it's about the score. I set minor goals like rebounding and turnovers and keep the focus on something other than the scoreboard.
"If you keep the focus on the score and who can score the most, for sure, football moves will come out on the basketball court and the skills drop away."
The Redbacks will have the bye next week, while Wildcats will play Portland on the road on Saturday before returning to Stawell to take on Mt Gambier on Sunday.
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