Bendigo Braves coach Ben Harvey says his team's SEABL finals destiny is still firmly in their own hands with three games remaining.

The Braves enter week 16 in fifth spot at 10-11, level on wins with the fourth-placed Thunder (10-10), who have an extra game in hand.

While the Braves and Thunder meet at Bendigo Stadium in a fortnight's time, Harvey is looking only as far as this weekend's clash against arch-rival Ballarat Miners.

The 2016 national championship coach insists only three wins from three games could deliver the Braves a finals berth.

"Right now, every game is a must-win game for the Bendigo Braves," he said.

"And when we have adversity this year, our guys have stepped up on the big occasions.

"They've done that against Mount Gambier, Nunawading and Hobart when it's been needed.

"Ballarat right now are on top of the ladder, but so were Mount Gambier and Hobart when we played them.

"I have no doubt we will put up a massive fight and I'm really confident we can beat the Miners."

Harvey said the Ballarat-Bendigo rivalry had always brought out the best in the Braves and was confident this weekend would be no different.

"100 per cent it does .... I always say it's like a Carlton-Collingwood clash," he said.

"It doesn't matter where the teams are on the ladder, but right now we are fighting for fourth position, they're fighting to continue top spot.

"I have a lot of respect for (Ballarat's) Eric Hayes as a coach and a player - he played over 400 games for the club.

"We've had a great rivalry as players and now going head-to-head as coach, and there's no doubt this game will be played in good spirit but also very physically."

A 92-82 win over Sandringham Sabres last Saturday snapped a four game losing streak for the Braves.

Import C. J. Aiken paced the Braves with a game-high 33 points and 12 rebounds, while point guard Adam Doyle chiumed in with 25 points and a game-high nine assists.

The mood at Bendigo Stadium has been boosted following co-captain Taylor Bell's participation at training on Tuesday night.

The 333-game veteran has played just three games this season, but has been declared fit to play against the Miners.

Remarkably, Tuesday night's session was the first time this season Harvey had his full squad on the court.

"That's after 16 rounds, so as a coach I am pretty stoked about that," he said.

"Taylor Bell training is a huge asset for us.

"Chris Hogan and Taylor Bell are irreplaceable players - one's played over 350 games for the club and ones played over 300 - statistically those guys are very important in the back end of the season."

Meanwhile, the Braves caught a break of sorts when North West Tasmania was beaten by Hobart Chargers on Saturday.

The Thunder's 88-65 loss to their biggest SEABL rivals was their second this season.

Coach Sam Armstrong said it was a "disappointing" result for the Thunder, who play their final home game against Canberra Gunners this weekend.

“We were out of sync all night on offence and couldn’t get any rhythm going – whether that was us or Hobart in defence, it was probably a bit of both," he said.

“There really weren’t any positives to take out of the game, and there were some areas of the game that just weren’t acceptable so we have to get a lot better in a short amount of time before Canberra.

“We’ve been talking all year about concentrating on the process and not really worried about any other results but we’ve just put extra pressure on ourselves if we want to play finals.”

- With The Advocate