While the Goldminers went into the match as favourites, they were without guard Will Cranston-Lown plus tall Blake Schaefer, Penrith held the home court advantage too.

It meant coach Andrew Osborn was delighted to see just how dominant his men were in the opening half.

“It was actually over by half-time, we were up 54-27 at half-time. The defensive intensity fell away after that, but that was understandable because there was no way we were going to lose the game,” he said.

“The first half, it was really good basketball to watch. We ran the ball well, we passed the ball well. There was one play when they’d scored and they put a press on us. But we put the ball in from the baseline and it just went bang-bang-bang in the basket – it didn’t touch the floor.

“They were doing that frequently too. We play really well when we run because it gets the adrenaline pumping and you feel like whatever you try is going to come off. There were many times when the final pass was just sensational – it was thread the needle stuff.”

Another of the Goldminers’ first half offensive highlights saw Kobe Mansell attack the basket before noticing teammate Zac Simons on his left.

Mansell flicked the ball behind his back without looking straight into the path of Simons, who dunked and added two points to the visitors’ total.

They were two of 26 points the Orange star scored in the win, while fellow Orange – and NSW under 20s – ace Matt Gray was the Goldminers’ next best with 18.

But just as pleasing as what the Goldminers did in attack, was their defensive rebounding. It was an area which had let them down against the Sydney Comets a fortnight earlier.

“The rebounding in the first half was brilliant, especially defensively,” Osborn said.

“Zac Simons, our young, big No.5, was dominant on our defensive boards, nobody got close to him.

“He was given good support from the other guys.”