South Recap | Round 5 Sunday - Ballarat Miners (81) defeated North West Tasmania Thunder (78)

The North West Tasmania Thunder suffered a second heartbreaking loss of the weekend with their stirring fightback just falling short on Sunday with the Ballarat Miners holding on for the 81-78 victory.
North West Tasmania lost at the death to the Frankston Blues on Saturday night in their first of two games on the road this weekend ahead of arriving at Selkirk Stadium on Sunday.
The Miners were back on their home floor fresh off also beating the Waverley Falcons the previous night and it was Ballarat getting off to a strong start with a 10-point streak during the first term.
The Miners ended up still leading 25-18 by quarter-time before they pushed that out to a 20-point advantage in the second quarter before remaining in control leading 47-30 at the half-time break.
Ballarat were still leading by 14 points early in the fourth quarter but that's when North West Tasmania fired up and it was all the way back to a one-point ball game in the dying seconds when Lachlan Barker knocked down the three ball for the Thunder.
Ballarat still had possession coming out of a timeout and Luke Rosendale was fouled and made both at the stripe with North West Tasmania having time to still try to force the game to overtime.
It was Barker who had the look at the buzzer but it wouldn’t fall and Ballarat held on for the three-point victory to make it two wins for the weekend to improve to a 5-2 record on the season after playing in last year's grand final.
Luke Rosendale delivered 22 points, three rebounds and two assists in the win for the Miners with Nick Stoddart contributing 18 points, four boards, four steals, two assists and two blocks, and Zac Dunmore 16 points and two rebounds.
North West Tasmania return home with the two losses this weekend both suffered right at the end with them now sitting on a 3-5 record with Archie Woodhill delivering 22 points and nine rebounds on 7/10 shooting from the floor and 6/8 at the free-throw line.
Lachlan Barker added 18 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, Kye Savage 19 points, six boards and three steals, and Logan Gibson seven points and four rebounds.

BALLARAT MINERS 81 (Rosendale 22, Stoddart 18, Dunmore 16)
NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 78 (Woodhill 22, Savage 19, Barker 18)