PORT Macquarie coach Nick Bannon admitted his team ran out of puff as they fell short of a state basketball title appearance at Wollongong on Sunday.
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Needing two wins from three starts to progress as one of the top teams in the Country Champions League, the Dolphins lost all three matches against Coffs Harbour, Gosford and Bathurst.
"It wasn't the result we were after and it's hard to pinpoint what really happened," Bannon said.
"But it's been a long season and with a lot of the boys playing basketball in the different school programs it was probably a culmination of everything.
"They all looked pretty tired."
Port Macquarie's losing margins were "pretty consistent" all the way.
"In all of our matches we led at various stages, but then we lost by 25 to Coffs," Bannon said.
"We lost to Gosford by about the same and 14 to Bathurst."
Bannon admitted there were a few things they could have done differently although the season - which started back in February - would still be considered a success.
"There is no doubt the effort was there, it was just that we didn't execute as well as we would have liked offensively," he said.
"The main things that we wanted to achieve this season is to end up with a group of really resilient young men.
"We wanted to end the season with a group of better people than what we started and we did that."
The result handed Port Macquarie a top six finish in Country NSW with Zac Campbell, Zac Lawrence and Darcy Peres consistently performing.
"Darcy tried his guts out all year as our captain and he's been setting a good example as our leader," the coach said.
"Hamish Cook-Webber was one of our real success stories. He was new to the program this year and was probably our most improved player."
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