Another round, another defeat. There's no escaping from that for basketball coach Tab Baldwin and his weary men, sitting on just three wins from nine games.
Equally palpable in the HBS Bank Hawks' 80-66 defeat to the Manawatu Jets was that by no means was it a blemish-free game but reassuringly the hosts had shown some ticker in Napier on Saturday night.
Losing is forever a bitter pill to swallow but when a team leaves their heart and soul on the court in the face of defeat then it becomes relatively palatable.
The Pettigrew-Green Arena faithful, who gave the second-string All Blacks versus France test rugby a miss on telly, would have left the venue of this year's Bartercard National Basketball League playoffs satisfied the hapless Hawks had left little in their tank.
Damningly, American import Brian Greene was reduced to a reluctant spectator on the Hawks' bench after the NBL board rejected the Bay franchise's appeal for a match suspension at 1pm on Saturday.
Injured Perth Wildcat Everard Bartlett, also a starting five member of the Hawks, joined "Slasher Greene" on the bench of those unavailable.
From the ashes of adversity arose a young bench player, Alonzo Burton, showing he was coming of age.
With the hopes of Final Fours long gone, the Hawks stable must surely turn its attention to next season. Enter Burton, showing he's graduated - big men in the mould of Nick Horvath and Marcel Jones or not.
"I'm more than ready. Coach Tab has been good to me for the season. I love bringing impact off the bench but I also like to start," the 19-year-old guard said.
"We were down a few players today [so] I wanted to prove to the coach that he can put me in so I think I did a pretty good job out there today."
If "incremental progress" are the buzz words then the penny seems to have dropped for the Hawks who have been shy to collect balls off the board.
"We knew we had to crash so we wanted to win offensive balls at this game so everyone did their part," said Alonzo, who would have done father and NBL stalwart Willie Burton, of Napier, proud.
"It's just unlucky we didn't come up with the win," he said, although the loss had more to do with the dexterity of the Jets than passages of luck.
Not having secured a scholarship in the US last year, Burton is eyeing a place at a university in Arizona this year.
"I stayed here and did a camp with the [New Zealand] Breakers," he said, adding Greene and Bay-born Bartlett were an integral part of the collective as starting players desperately seeking ways to overcome adversity.
Adding 11 points, three rebounds and a block, Burton didn't take a backwards step, even to Horvath.
Despite winning the first quarter, the Hawks let their guard down in the second spell and found themselves playing catch-up basketball for the rest of the night.
Horvath said the Mike Kalavros-coached Jets were doing everything difficult lately.
"It's tough but we've finally got a decent defensive game together so we're feeling really good," said the Jets rebounding king who claimed a game-high 23 points and a whopping 16 rebounds (14 defensively) as well as drawing six fouls.
"That's what I pride myself on, being a hard worker who hits the glass hard and being relentless, although it's been tough on my legs."
Having come off a loss to the Otago Nuggets in Palmerston North on Friday, Horvath revealed winning here was a must on the Jets' agenda.
"Our playoff chances are still there but we pretty much need to win every game so that's how we approached this game," said last year's NBL MVP.
The Hawks were again found wanting in shots from outside the arc while Jets shooting guard Troy McLean, point guard Chris Hagan and Matt Te Huna sunk timely "swishes" to suggest the hosts need to spend more time refining that shot.
Horvath said: "That was the big difference. In the last three games we played our defences but teams have hit 10, 15 three-pointers.
"If we can catch teams on off days and force them off the three-point line to take tough shots then that seems to work for us."
Horvath loves playing at the PG Arena and is hoping they will be back here for the Final Fours next month.
Burton and Dion Prewster, who claimed a double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds, crashed the glass with aplomb with import Darko Cohadarevic as the Hawks pipped the opposition 42-41 in that department.