Mike DiNunno believes he and his Cheshire Phoenix teammates have learned a lesson following the defeat to Leeds Force on Sunday night.
The Nix were in poor form against the struggling Yorkshire side in their BBL Championship match-up and were caught cold by the visitors, falling to a 78-76 defeat.
DiNunno, along with David Aliu, led the Cheshire scorers with 15 points and helped bring the Nix to within a whisker of claiming a late victory despite having been down 21 points with just seven minutes left to go.
"In games like that sometimes its a bad thing to win because you don't learn your lesson," said the Eastern Kentucky University graduate.
"We want to win every game but I think we showed a little bit of resilience (at the end) and we have all season.
"We know we've got it but we should have never put ourselves in that position in the first place. We just came out flat and never got a rhythm even though Leeds' record would suggest they are a sub-par team. They've got a good coach, they run good stuff and they grind the shot clock down."
DiNunno had a spell on the sidelines earlier this month but has re-established himself as part of head coach John Coffino's side in recent games and reserved special praise for the Phoenix fans for their support of him and his teammates throughout the campaign.
He added: "I know a lot of them personally on the court and I feel like I am playing for my family when I'm on the court with the Cheshire Phoenix. They show me love and they show everybody on the team love and we try and show it back on and off the court."
