Turnovers and the resulting transition buckets killed the hosts all evening long. Any momentum that was gained from a string of defensive stops was quickly negated with an unforced turnover and poor defensive transition.
Like so often this season, the Dragons got off to a slow start on Matchday 5. The visitors had built up a 17-9 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter with the hosts struggling to knock down jump shots early on.
Dragons responded positively though, as Rafi Saipe and Matt Armstrong knocked down back to back threes, in a much-needed offensive run. The lead was down to four.
However, that bright spell was short-lived, and the visitors answered with a game-high, scoring run that blew their lead open to 11 points (26-15). The Dragons headed into the second quarter trailing after a fifth consecutive first quarter this season.
Liverpool for all of the Dragons struggles wasn’t capable of pulling away from their opponents. Never leading by more than nine points in the second, the Dragons Den had a sense of anticipation hovering over it, as the home faithful awaited a Bradford run.
Reminiscent of last weekend, the hosts did surge, and it was Dave Walsh whose sharpshooting clawed his team back into the game. Walsh produced an 11-4 run of his own, knocking down three treys that had the big crowd roaring in satisfaction. All of a sudden, we had a one-point game.
Frustratingly for Coach Mellor, that hard work was quickly undone. Transition buckets were a thorn in the Dragons defence all game. Holding a 23-9 fast break advantage on the evening, it was a flurry of fast-break sequences to end the half, that handed Liverpool a 53-46 lead at the interval.
Third quarters have become something of a specialty for the Bradford Dragons this season. True to early season form, the Dragons shaded a low scoring third period 15-13. Seven turnovers in the quarter prevented the hosts from taking advantage though.