Blog Archives

Bradford Dragons impress with road win in Loughborough.

27/2/2017

With no game on Saturday, the Dragons travelled to Loughborough Student Riders on Sunday afternoon, returning home with the points in the bag, following an impressive 86-99 victory.

Prior to the weekends fixtures, Loughborough sat in fifth position in the league table, two places above the Dragons. However, the Riders had a tough weekend agenda, with a fixture against league leaders Team Northumbria on Saturday afternoon, which the North Easterners won 68-75, just twenty-four hours prior to the visit of Bradford.

The hosts took the first two points of the game, which was immediately cancelled out by layup from Ricky Fetske, who was fouled in the process and added the extra point to give Bradford an early lead. However, Loughborough hit straight back again and pushed themselves into a four-point lead at 7-3, with three and a half minutes of the game played.

That was as good as it got for the Riders as Rihards Sulcs netted a two-pointer, quickly followed by a three from Eisley Swaine to give Bradford back the lead, which was quickly extended out to 7-14, following an uninterrupted eleven-point run by the Dragons. The visitors maintained the pressure and, at the end of the opening quarter, they held a nine-point advantage (17-26).

Brave Bradford Dragons undone by Table Topping Team Northumbria.

21/2/2017

Bradford Dragons hosted the current league leaders, Team Northumbria, in the Dragons Den on Saturday evening, eager to cause an upset. However, the game went true to form, with the visitors taking the victory, 73-79, subjecting Bradford to their third defeat on the bounce.

It was the fourth meeting between the teams this season, with them having met in both the National Trophy Pool stages and in the National Cup quarter finals. Team Northumbria had got the better of the Dragons in each of the previous meetings and the Bradford side were keen to set records straight.

Ricky Fetske won the jump ball, however his tip went straight to Northumbria’s Jack Preston who was quickly up the court. However, Fetske was quicker still and was on hand to block Preston’s shot, sending Bradford up to the other end. On Bradford’s first offensive play, Rihards Sulcs was fouled in the act of shooting and he made no mistake with the resulting free throws to give Bradford the first points of the game.

The two sides traded baskets throughout the opening period of the game, but when the visiting coach, Marc Steutel, called the first timeout of the fixture, with just under four minutes of the first quarter remaining, the Dragons were in possession of a five-point lead, 18-13.

Disappointing Dragons undone by Rockets.

15/2/2017

Bradford Dragons made another long away trip, this time to Reading Rockets, on Sunday, but were despatched back to Yorkshire on the back of their biggest defeat of the season, 108-85.

The Dragons were the last team to beat Reading (102-96) when the two sides met in the Dragons Den earlier in the season. Since then, the Rockets had moved on to win their next twelve games on the bounce and Bradford were hoping to make it unlucky thirteen.

Former BBL player, Semi Oboigbe lined up in the Dragons starting five, having rejoined the club just before the prior weekends fixtures. However, following a series of missed shots and turnovers, from both sides, it was Readings Danny Carter that opened the scoring with a three-pointer. Then, whilst Rafi Saipe missed an opportunity to level the score for Bradford, Carter added a further two points to give the hosts an early five-point advantage.

It didn’t get any better for the Dragons, who found themselves 11 points down (13-2) with less than four minutes played.

Bradford eventually got themselves going, coinciding with the arrival on court of their long-serving Latvian, Rihards Sulcs. With the balance of play switched in the visitors’ favour, the gap was slowly closed, and with two minutes of the opening quarter remaining the gap had been brought back to just two points (15-13).

Dragons steal Worthing’s thunder but get hit by lightning on the Solent.

7/2/2017

Bradford Dragons faced a double header weekend on the south coast of England with fixtures against Worthing Thunder on Saturday and Team Solent Kestrels the following day. The Dragons took the points at Worthing, in a thrilling 78-88 victory, however their celebrations were halted following a dramatic final quarter turnover at playoff rivals Team Solent Kestrels (TSK), 83-74.

Having made the two-hundred-and-seventy-mile journey to West Sussex on Saturday, Bradford visited the Worthing Leisure Centre full of confidence having won the opposite fixture 104-86 back in October. The Dragons’ roster was also boosted by the return of Nigerian born forward, Semi Oboigbe, who, despite leaving the club before the league season started, had never had his registration cancelled, allowing him to hook back up with the club a few days after the player registration deadline.

Worthing’s Lionel Gaines beat Ricky Fetske in the tip-off, but it was Bradford who opened the scoring, through a Rafi Saipe three pointer. However, home advantage quickly took over as Jack Sunderland sank a couple of two pointers to give Worthing the lead. The hosts could not pull away, however, and, in the sixth minute of the game, Bradford’s Rihards Sulcs regained the advantage for Bradford, which they pulled out to eight points with ninety seconds of the quarter remaining, before Worthing put in a shift of their own to pull back to within three (20-23).