​By Tom Lamming (Student Press Officer)

The Bradford Dragons went toe to toe with the NBL Division One’s top two teams and came up just short on both occasions. Losing 94-88 in Overtime against Hemel Storm on Saturday before falling 87-77 to the unbeaten Solent Kestrels on Sunday afternoon.

The Dragons fell to an agonising 94-88 overtime defeat in a gripping clash against Hemel Storm.

The Dragons led for large spells but found themselves on the wrong end of a nail-biting affair at the Dragons Den on Saturday evening.

It’s the first defeat in four games for a resurgent Dragons outfit who now sit at 3-6 in the NBL Division One.

Both teams got off to a slow start, missing their first five shots before Ricky Fetske dunked home the first two points of the game.

Fetske led from the front in the opening minutes, scoring the Dragons first nine points. Knocking down four successive field goals in the process.

The 6-2 Storm struggled with the Dragons defensive cohesion in the opening quarter as the hosts were locked in from the tip.

Albert Margai and Jermayne Laing combined for 11 of the Dragons next 13 points to end the quarter. Crushing the Hemel paint defence as the Dragons continually found success in the driving lanes.

by Tom Lamming (Student Press Officer)

Bradford Dragons made it back to back wins in the NBL Division One for the first time this season, blowing out the Nottingham Hoods 99-82 in a dominant wire to wire victory.

The Dragons notched a third successive win in all competitions, claiming a first away victory of the campaign in the process.

The visitors, buoyed by last weekend’s doubleheader success at the Dragons Den, came out of the blocks firing in Nottingham.

Leading from the front, Ricky Fetske knocked down his first four shots as the Dragons opened up a 13-6 lead in the opening minutes of the game.

The Dragons guards began to take control of the game. Albert Margai, Jermyane Laing and Rafi Saipe all scored as the visitors asserted a 21-8 lead on the road.

The bench play of Dragons was a staple of the performance throughout but was no more apparent than when the bench scored 10 of the teams 12 points, in the remaining two minutes of the first quarter.

Leading 33-17 at the end of the first, after the Dragons poured in a season-high for points in a quarter.

The second quarter was a much lower scoring affair with the visitors maintaining a healthy lead throughout.

As the hosts’ offense continued to splutter, Dragons continued to thrive on that side of the ball. Knocking down three three-point field goals in the opening two minutes of the quarter.

Andreas Lycoudis knocked down his second and third threes of the evening with the Dragons resident long-range marksman Dave Walsh firing in the other. The visitors lead had ballooned to 28.

The offensive blitz coincided with a Dragons spell of lockdown defence that ensured the hosts went scoreless for the first four minutes of the second quarter.

With a substantial lead, Bradford had a brief lapse in concentration which allowed Nottingham to gain a foothold back into the game. The hosts went on a 15-2 run over the next three minutes, almost halving the deficit, as the lead stood at 15.

Needing someone to steady the ship, up stepped Kenny Ogunneye. Scoring the Dragons final eight points of the quarter off the bench.

Kenny’s 8-point burst ensured Dragons went into halftime 53-34 to the good.

The third quarter was all about Rihards Šulcs as the Latvian lit up the Nottingham defence for 17 points in the penultimate quarter.

Trading buckets with the hosts, Šulcs scored his team’s first 8 points of the quarter going 4-4 from the field.

The Dragons stalwart now in his eleventh season with the club, showed no signs of letting up as he took over the game. On the other side of a Fetske bucket that increased the visitors lead to 22, Šulcs scored nine of the team’s next 12 points as he shot a flawless 8-8 in the third quarter.

Keeping their foot on the gas, Lycoudis and Walsh combined for the final seven points of the third as the Dragons lead was at 30 by the time the buzzer sounded for the end of the period.

Clayfell Harris scored on the first possession of the fourth, increasing the visitors lead to a game-high 32 points. Although Nottingham cut the lead down to 17, Dragons never looked in danger of a monumental collapse in the final quarter. The final score 99-82 in favour of the Bradford Dragons.