Match Reports 2018/19

Dragons Remain Unbeaten Following War of the Roses Clash

22/10/2018

Bradford Dragons entertained Manchester Magic in the Dragons’ Den on Saturday evening, for the second time in less than a month. Once again, the White Rose came out on top as Bradford romped to a comfortable 87-55 victory over their rivals from the red side of the Pennines.

For the past five seasons, Magic have been a real thorn in the side of the Bradford team, with wins against them being few and far between. However, following the departure of long-term head coach, Paul Middleton, the Manchester side are in the midst of a major transition period and have struggled to make an impact in the early stages of the new campaign.

In comparison, Bradford are enjoying their best ever start to a season, since joining the top flight of the National Basketball League in 2011, having won their opening six games, across all competitions. When theses sides last met, in September’s National Trophy fixture, the Dragons enjoyed a 94-71 victory, prompting Magic’s coach, Aurimas Verbukas, to promise stiffer competition the next time the two teams met.

Unbeaten Dragons Deliver Statement Win at Reigning Champions

15/10/2018

Bradford Dragons faced their second double header weekend of the season, facing two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum, and once again came away unscathed, leaving their unbeaten record intact.

On Saturday, the Bradford side travelled to last seasons Division One league title winners, Loughborough Student Riders, returning home with an 82-88 overtime win, and on Sunday they welcomed third division Barking Abbey into the Dragons’ Den in the National Cup third round and ensuring their progression with a convincing 104-52 victory.

Loughborough were one of two teams to produce an impressive 20-4 league win record during the previous campaign, taking the title due to their superior points scored, over second placed Team Solent Kestrels and the midlands club are again one of the favourites for silverware this time around.

Both sides had won their opening fixtures of the season, Loughborough defeating Team Newcastle University, 66-72, on Tyneside. Whilst Bradford had taken the plaudits in a home win, 103-91, against newly promoted Nottingham Hoods. Despite remaining unbeaten in all competitions, so far this season, the Dragons knew that this was set to be their toughest test to date.

It was Bradford who started the game strongest and when Rihards Šulcs was adjudged to have been fouled in the act of shooting, he went to the line to open the scoring, sinking one from two. Ricky Fetske then hit a long distance three, followed it up with a two-point lay-up and then Andreas Lycoudis joined the party with a three, to give the Dragons an early 0-9 lead.

Dragons 1 - Clark Fires Dragons to Opening Day Win

8/10/2018

Bradford Dragons opened their National Basketball League Division One campaign, with a home win (103-91) against newly promoted Nottingham McDonald’s Hoods, in the Dragons Den on Saturday evening.

Despite being newcomers to the top flight, the Hoods do not intend being push overs this season and have already laid down their credentials by beating both Derby Trailblazers and Leicester Warriors in the National Trophy competition, their only defeat being against last seasons league champions, Loughborough Student Riders.

Likewise, the Dragons have enjoyed a successful start to the season, with wins against Team Newcastle University and Manchester Magic in the Trophy competition, securing their place in January’s semi-finals.
Nottingham put the first points on the board, with their Slovakian forward, Andrej Slavik laying up for two. Cole Welle increased their lead from the free throw line, before Rihards Šulcs finally got Bradford off the mark with a layup of his own, whilst also drawing the foul and sinking the extra shot, to level the game at three-a-piece

Welle again gave the Hoods the lead from another layup, but then, with just over two minutes of the game gone, Ricky Fetske bucketed a three-point jump shot to put the Dragons in front. Andreas Lycoudis then sank another three-pointer and Drexler Clark layed up to stretch the Dragons lead (11-5).

With six minutes played, Clark sank from beyond the arc to put the Dragons eight up (16-8) but, within thirty seconds, the visitors had pulled back to within two.

However, the Dragons then went on an unanswered ten-point scoring spree, to stretch their advantage to twelve, although Slavic had the final say of the quarter, sinking his two-point jump shot to cut the deficit to ten (26-16).

Within two seconds of the restart, Allie Fullah was sent to the free throw line, following a foul by Slavic, and the Dragons lead was back to twelve. But the Slovakian made up for his misdemeanour by laying up at the other end. The Hoods pulled the deficit back to seven (30-23) two minutes into the second period. However, a spectacular dunk from Fullah triggered the home side back into action, and a further dunk from Clark and baskets from Jermayne Laing, Clark and Šulcs extended the gap to seventeen.

The two sides matched one another, almost shot for shot, through the rest of the quarter and the Dragons took a commanding fourteen-point lead back to the locker rooms at half-time.

The third period opened at blistering pace, with layups from Slavic and Fetske within the first fifteen seconds. The opening three minutes of the half were evenly balanced, with the hosts maintaining their fourteen-point lead. But, as the game progressed, the Hoods found their rhythm and five minutes into the third, they had halved the deficit (66-59).

Clark responded with another three-pointer, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Hoods rejuvenation and with 3:29 remaining in the quarter the scores were within two (69-67).

Up stepped Clark again, sinking once more from distance, but the Hoods came back again. In the final minute of the quarter, the Dragons finally started to click and opened the gap back out to eight points. However, a buzzer beating lay-up from Nottingham’s Eddie Brownell, left the game precariously balanced at 80-74.

Fetske opened the final quarter with a sweet three-pointer to settle the Dragons nerves and Šulcs followed up with a two. Gradually, the home side began to reimpose their advantage and, with six and half minutes remaining, Clark laid up to stretch the lead to sixteen (92-76). However, Clark landed badly and stumbled, falling straight into one of the shot clocks and requiring medical attention.

After a substantial delay in play, Joaquím Calvo was brought off the bench to replace the injured Clark. The delay seemed to have worked to Nottingham’s favour as first Euan James and then Luke Mitchell scored for the visitors. However, Laing replied with a layup and another dunk from Fullah put the hosts fifteen ahead, with exactly five minutes remaining (96-81).

The next three minutes saw a succession of missed shots, fouls and turnovers, with neither team being able to add to the scores. Fullah even saw another attempt at a dunk bounce back off the rim.

It was during this period that the game saw it’s second extended delay, when Calvo faked his shot with Hoods’ veteran, Dave ‘Tintin’ Watts already airborne and the later rolled over the top of Calvo and fell awkwardly to the ground, with medical assistance once more required.

After another lengthy delay, Watts was back on his feet, but unable to continue and once the claret had been cleared off the court the game resumed.

With just 2:17 on the clock, Aaron Maher sank first a three and then a two to pull the visitors back within striking distance. The Dragons reintroduced Clark to the game, but even he couldn’t stop the Hoods bringing the game to within seven points (98-91) with just over a minute of the game to play.

The Dragons stood firm and a couple of layups from Fetske and a single from the line by Šulcs closed the game out with a comfortable win (103-91).

The official University of Bradford Player of the Game award went to Clark, who scored an impressive 33 point (77% shot percentage), also adding 7 assists to his statistics. “A lot of this goes towards my family back home and my teammates and coaching staff for giving me the confidence to play my game from the start,” Clark reflected. “I think we have a chance to surprise a lot of people this season and to achieve something really special, not only for the club but for the city as well.”

Clark was well supported by Fetske, who contributed 29 personal points to the Dragons total and Šulcs who added a further 19 points. Top scorers for the Hoods were Welle with 21 points and Mitchell with 20 points.

Bradford’s Head Coach, Chris Mellor commented, “We had a decent lead at the half, but Nottingham had a good third quarter and we did a poor job, in the second half, securing defensive boards and taking care of the ball at times. We closed the game out well though in the last eight minutes and its nice to start with a win.”

The Dragons travel to Loughborough Student Riders next Saturday (13th October, Tip-off 6pm) for what will be the toughest test of the season to date. The action then returns to the Dragons Den on Sunday, when the Dragons entertain third division, Barking Abbey in the third round of the National Cup. Tip off in the Dragons Den is at 4:15pm and advance tickets are available on the club website.

Dragons Juniors suffered a disappointing weekend with the Under 14’s going down 64-27 at York Young Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the under 16s faced a home double-header weekend, losing 67-96 against Newcastle Eagles on Saturday and then 75-85 against City of Edinburgh Kings the following day.

Photographs © Alex Daniel Photography

Dragons 1 - Dragons Throw Down the Gauntlet

1/10/2018

Bradford Dragons came away from their National Trophy double header weekend completely unscathed, comfortably beating both Team Newcastle University (51-88) and Manchester Magic (94-71) to book their place in this season’s semi-finals.

On Saturday the Dragons travelled to Newcastle’s Sport Central for their first official fixture of the 2018-19 Basketball Season, in pool stages of the National Trophy, the traditional curtain raiser to the NBL season. Bradford had been placed in Pool A, along with Newcastle, Manchester and Team Northumbria, the latter of which have since withdrawn from National Basketball League competitions, leaving the other three teams to fight it out for a place in the semis.

With Newcastle having already defeated Manchester, they went into the weekend knowing that a win against the Dragons would guarantee them the progression. But it was the Dragons that were quickest out of the blocks, building up a six-point lead (0-6) in the opening minutes of the game.

The hosts pulled back to three behind, following a layup from Zach Sharman. However, by the mid-point of the opening period, further scores from Bradford’s Ricky Fetske, Jermayne Laing and Rihards Šulcs extended the visitor’s lead to ten (5-15).

Again, Team Newcastle threatened but the Dragons did enough to hold them at arm’s length, closing out the first quarter with a six-point advantage (14-20).

Six became eight in the opening stages of the second period, with Bradford’s latest arrival, American point guard, Drexler Clark putting up his first two points for the club. But two and a half minutes in, a three pointer from Victor Fuentes, pulled the home side back to within four.

Under 16s - Dragons beaten by Magic

29/9/2018

The U16's first game of the season see them lose heavily to a well drilled Manchester Magic squad.

This was going to be a tough game from the outset as the Dragons welcomed Manchester Magic to The BBEC Den.

The game started balanced as both teams took time to find their feet, 3 minutes in Magic had settled in and the points started to pile on as the Dragons found it difficult to get in their rhythm.

Magic were always one step ahead of the Dragons causing turnover after turnover not allowing the Dragons many chances to muster up an effective offence. The Dragons looked to be relying on G Osobor for most of the 1st with the majority of play being driven his way. Not only did the Dragons find it hard to get to the basket, things became more difficult once O Bright had to sit out the rest of the game following a knee injury. The 1st quarter ended with the Dragons trailing 7 - 32.

Dragons 1 - Bradford Roar to Victory at Liverpool

23/9/2018

Bradford Dragons visited Liverpool Basketball Club on Saturday, in a precursor to the new National Basketball League campaign and came away with a convincing victory, 56-78.

Liverpool finished third in division two last season, just missing out on the opportunity to join Bradford in the top flight. However, despite the gap in divisions, the Merseysiders would provide a stern test for Chris Mellor’s side, having already beaten first division Manchester Magic, the previous weekend.

The Dragons travelled with an eight-man squad for the preseason fixture against second division opposition, with new signing Clayfell Harris missing due to personal commitments and American Drexler Clark’s arrival in the UK imminent.

The starting five showed just one change from the five that started the majority of last season, with newcomer Andreas Lycoudis stepping in, in place of the departed Eisley Swaine, who has taken his game to the United States. And it was the Dragons who took first blood through a basket from American power forward, Ricky Fetske. They quickly followed this us with a two from Latvian Rihards Šulcs, assisted by Lycoudis, to open an early four-point gap.

U18 - East Durham Lions 60 vs Dragons 102

16/9/2018

Dragons fire burns out the Lions roar

The U18's season got under way with an away trip to Peterlee to take on East Durham Lions.

The game started with a positive start with Dragons winning the tip.
A good opening offence saw Mike Noble with the opening points of the game and the first of the season for the Dragons.
A steady pressure form both side saw and even first few minutes as both team blew of some cobwebs.
Some great drives from Grease Osobo, Alex Gabittas, Harrison Wildie and Jack Cavanagh kept the dragons ahead throughout the 1st. East Durham were in foul trouble with 3min of the 1st to go, which the Dragons closed out to lead 11-17.