Ararat Redbacks and Stawell Wildcats both suffer round seven defeats | Photos

The Redbacks took on the travelling team on Sunday afternoon, the second game in its double-header weekend.

Ararat hosted Warrnambool Seahawks on Saturday night.

Redbacks edged their way in front early, but the Seahawks managed to turn the game around.

"I think the boys went to sleep," Redbacks coach Marcus Jenkins said.

"They could have thought the job was done and in basketball, you can never be complacent, never let your guard down.

"To the boy's credit, we were down at one stage by around 20 points and they managed to get themselves back into the game."

Final score, Seahawks 85 to Redbacks 77.

"I don't like to bail everyone out and say we did a good job," Jenkins said.

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"I'm very disappointed - both games on Saturday and Sunday I rated as competitive wins for us."

Ararat wasn't able to claw back the early lead held by Bellarine Storm on Sunday, final score 73-82.

"Some decisions didn't go our way and that's basketball," Jenkins said.

"The consistency with some calls was hard. Again, that's basketball and that's sport. It's all about how you adjust and adapt.

"It's no excuse. We just need to focus on playing the game.

"I was happy with the determination on Sunday. We obviously didn't get the result we wanted in the end, but I thought we were much more switched on."

The dreaded third quarter for the Redbacks was solid, an aspect of the game where the players can get "caught napping".

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"In both games this weekend our third quarter was probably our best quarters for the game," Jenkins said.

"Normally that quarter is our fade out."

With only eight players available for each game, the Redbacks had one change from Saturday night and into Sunday.

"There were parts in the game on Sunday where we really pushed and the little things were noticeable," Jenkins said. "We need to keep fighting and not give up. It makes it hard because there are games where we have played really good against good teams and I see the potential we have.

"Then when it comes to teams which are around our benchmark, we just drop."

Jenkins said mental preparation is the biggest aspect of the game.

"The mindfulness side of the game is more about what we need to do once we get on the court to what we do off the court," he said.

"But I'll say it again, I can't keep making excuses. We had two great opportunities to come away with two positives. It will be back to the drawing board this week and see how we can improve moving forward."

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Redbacks' top scorer for the season DJ Woods had a quiet afternoon on Sunday, only scoring nine points.

From the sidelines, it looked like a film was over the opening of the basket every time he put up a shot.

"I keep saying to the boys, if we stay consistent, shots will drop eventually," Jenkins said.

"We are a shooting team. They get extremely frustrated and you can see it in their facial expressions and their demeanour on the court.

"It then becomes a mind game. That's where the mindfulness comes into it and they have to be more mentally tough, shots will come to us."

In other games at the weekend, Stawell Wildcats weren't able to match it with Bellarine Storm. Storm's Clancy Whelan was problematic for the home team, shooting 30 individual points in his team's 80-point win. The final score was 128-48.

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