BRADFORD Dragons hosted four-time National Basketball League Division One champions, Team Solent Kestrels, at Calderdale College’s Inspire Centre on Saturday and fought back from 17 points down in the second quarter to take a sensational 97-93 home win in overtime.

The Kestrels had a rare slow start to the campaign, and the Dragons had thumped the South Coast side 83-60 in the reverse fixture.

However, while Bradford were on a three-game losing run heading into this encounter, the Kestrels had won their last four matches.

The Dragons’ American veteran Ricky Fetske opened the scoring with a jump shot and while his side were only 8-6 down midway through the first quarter, Solent pulled away thereafter to lead 18-8 at the buzzer.

The Kestrels soared into a 29-12 lead within three minutes of the restart but Fetske sank a couple of layups to settle the home side’s nerves.

Slowly, they went about the task of closing the deficit and only trailed 42-33 at the break.

Whatever Bradford's head coach Chris Mellor said during the interval clearly had the desired effect as the Dragons looked the sharper of the two sides in the third quarter.

Five minutes in, Dave Walsh sank his second trey of the period, leaving his side just 50-49 behind.

Solent scored next, before scores from Justin Williams and Jordan Whelan gave the home side their first lead since the opening minute.

The two sides went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the quarter, with Williams sinking from the foul line to give the Dragons a 61-60 lead to take into the final period.

With just three minutes left on the match clock, a Williams trey put the Dragons 78-70 in front, but the Kestrels roared back, and when the final buzzer sounded, the two sides were tied at 80-80, meaning overtime beckoned.

Walsh opened the additional five minutes with a triple, and halfway through the extra period the Dragons were 92-83 in front. Solent never gave up but they could only partially close the deficit, and had to settle for a 97-93 defeat.

The victory moves the Dragons up to ninth in the 14-team NBL Division One table, and they are now one of five sides on 12 points, all of whom have identical records of six wins and eight defeats.

The Official Calderdale College Player of the Game for Bradford against Solent was Williams, who registered a joint game high score with 28 points and he was backed up by Whelan (20 points) and Fetske (19 points).

Bradford’s long run of eight consecutive home fixtures comes to an end this coming weekend when the league's bottom side, Westminster Warriors, come to town.

Tip-off on Saturday evening is at 6:15pm and tickets are on sale via the Dragons' website.