​​The visitors came out the gates the quicker of the two teams, breaking into an early 5-0 lead after buckets from Jack Sunderland and veteran Zaire Taylor. 

Dragons got on the board through a hook shot from captain Ricky Fetske as the hosts attacked the paint at will in the first quarter, beginning to reap the rewards. 

Down 8-2, Dragons went on a 14-3 run as Jermayne Laing, Rihards Šulcs, and Great Osobor all notched paint scores.

​​In the second meeting between the teams this season, the Dragons looked to gain revenge after the Riders knocked Dragons out of the L Lynch Trophy in late January. 

Ricky Fetske opened the games scoring with a layup for the first of three scores in the quarter. 

The opening quarter was a low-scoring period, with neither team able to create meaningful separation. 

Riders led by as many as 5, but Dragons went blow for blow, with Fetske and Great Osobor combining to score 15 of the hosts’ 17 first quarter points. 

After the opening ten minutes of action, the game was all tied up at 17. 

In a slow offensive start to the game, neither team looked primed to break out into a lead, but that all soon changed. 

A dominant second quarter from Dragons blew the game wide open. The hosts’ started the second period with a 10-2 run as Fetske, Uche Umekwe, Osobor, and Billy Cousins all-scored for Dragons. 

The visitors called a timeout to steady the ship and got the desired outcome, with Joe Bielak cutting the deficit to 27-21. 

However, the Dragons continued their dominant start to the quarter, with an offensive barrage over the next four minutes of play. 

A 15-3 run from Coach Mellor’s team saw the lead balloon to 42-24. Osobor and Fetske continued to feast on the Riders defense, as young debutant Elijah Walsh introduced himself to the Dragons faithful with a smooth looking step-back three in the run. 

Dragons led 45-30 heading into the interval after one of their most complete quarters of the season.

​Having looked in a dominant position going into the third quarter, less than five minutes later, the Dragons were in damage control. To their credit, the hosts regrouped, and with all their veteran experience, ensured they weren’t blown away by the Riders. 

​​Holding on to the lead for the remainder of the third quarter, Dragons withstood the visitors rolling offense to lead 60-57 heading into the final period. 

With it all to play for, the fourth quarter was always going to come down to a spell of brilliance. Thankfully for Dragons, it came from within their ranks. 

The opening minutes of the period saw both teams going bucket for bucket as the game began to tighten up. 

Dragons led 69-68 with just less than four minutes to play in the game, then up-stepped Lycoudis to strike the significant blow in the contest. 

Having struggled to find his shot for much of the game, when it mattered most, Lycoudis rose to the fore, knocking down three straight triples to give the Dragons a commanding 78-70 lead. 

With just under two minutes to play in the game, Dragons looked primed to see out proceedings, but as the third quarter showed, Riders weren’t about to roll over and accept defeat. 

A quick three from Jimenez, and then another shortly thereafter from Gamble, saw the lead cut to 78-76 with 43 seconds left on the clock. 

​Box Score: https://www.fibalivestats.com/u/BBE/1774046/bs.html#ASFSK

Post-Game Reaction

Coach Mellor pointed to the Dragons resilience down the stretch, he said: 

 “We finished the first half strong with a decent second quarter, but they outplayed us in the third. We regrouped again for the final 10 minutes, and we got the stops and made plays to close it out.” 

 Despite his shooting struggles early in the game, Andreas Lycoudis admitted he kept a shooters mentality throughout the game, he said:

“Personally, it was a tough shooting night for me until the fourth, but I knew they’d fall eventually, and the team got me some great looks, and I was able to convert them.” 

Touching on the importance of the victory for the Dragons, Lycoudis added:

“It was a great team win, won on the defensive end. Although we let a 15-point half time lead slip, we kept positive, aggressive, and stuck to our defensive principles. It felt great to snap the losing streak and get back to winning ways.” 

Next up for Dragons is the last game of the three-game homestand, with Worthing Thunder travelling to Nottingham for NBL Division One action on Saturday, February 20, with tip-off at 2.00pm.

The Reading Rockets broke into an early 8-2 lead, with the team’s strong three-point shooting evident right out of the gate. Sam Grant and O’Showen Williams both knocked down three’s as the visitors’ ball movement was on display early.

​A frenetic first quarter started with Ethan Price converting an and-one opportunity for the hosts on the first possession of the game. 

Dragons were more than holding their own amidst the high-octane opening to the game. With both teams getting to the rim at will, it was very much back and forth in the first half of the opening period. 

Ricky Fetske had his way with the Rebels bigs early on, scoring ten first quarter points to lead the Dragons in scoring.