ANDREW ALOIA  |  July 4th, 2011  |  www.townsvillebulletin.com.au

WINNING was supposed to be fun. Townsville Heat coach Liam Flynn just had to remind his star-studded outfit of that in Saturday night's 16-point triumph over Gladstone.

For the opening nine QBL rounds the Heat have been burdened by their lofty expectations, dissecting even their finest performances in pursuit of state basketball's biggest prize. And Flynn readily admits he hasn't held back with his demands .

A top-of-the-table loss to Gold Coast last week - only their second defeat of the campaign - left the outfit downcast and in need of a boost.

It came with the 90-74 win at QN Stadium and season-best performance by marquee big man Ben Allen with 23 points and a typically inspired effort by captain Daniel Egan (21 points, nine rebounds and four assists).

"In the last few weeks we got to a point that even after we win, we have been too critical of ourselves, looking immediately at what we could have done better, rather than the positives," Flynn laments.

"We have such high standards that if we to get to those standards, then we are looking critically at everything we do.

"I don't take anything back, I've given them a kick in the pants when they needed it. But this time they deserve a pat on the back."

Flynn was proud that a week of tireless work to address the side's failings against zone defence paid off.

It opened more opportunities for Allen to impose himself inside the paint, even if he had a natural tendency to creep back out to the three-point line.

"He had a good mix of perimeter shots and getting to the rim," Flynn said.

"At one point he did start to float back out to the perimeter, but he went back inside to do the dirty work."

It was a bitter-sweet performance with guard Chris Cedar expected to be out for up to four weeks after twisting his ankle.

Meanwhile, a career-high 30-points from Townsville Flames co-captain Jill Haughton wasn't enough in their 89-76 loss to the Gladstone Power.

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 90 (B Allen 23 pts 4 rbds, D Egan 21 pts 9 rbds 4 asst, T Blanchfield 15 pts 5 rbds 3 asst) d GLADSTONE POWER 74 (K Borgan 25 pts 8 rbds 6 asst, J Gill 14 pts, J Cripe 12 pts 10 rbds, N Calder 12 pts)GLADSTONE POWER 89 (J Bibby 27 pts 6 asst, R Haynes 19 pts 19 rbds, D Neves 19 pts 5 rbds, H Bowley 16 pts 7 rbds) d TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 76 (J Haughton 30 pts 7 rbds, L Ward 11 pts, K Ward 11 pts)