Maroons claim bragging rights

12:01pm Monday 3rd March 2008

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Bradford Maroons won local bragging rights after beating derby rivals Bradford Dragons 92-77 in EBL Division Three North.

In front of their biggest crowd of the season, the Dragons slipped to their third consecutive home defeat in three years against the Maroons - though they have three consecutive away wins to their credit against their neighbours.

The Maroons' front court pressure defence began to pay dividends in the second quarter, forcing Dragons turnovers, and with Silcott scoring freely and Roberts stepping up with two treys, it was the visitors who went in at half-time 49-38 ahead.

Maroons took the third quarter to lead 72-50 and though the Dragons offence started to fire in the final quarter it was not enough to pull the game back.

Dragons top scorers were R Pabrieza with 17, V Karavalis with 14 and Istvan Dohar with 12.

Dragons chairman Stuart Culliford said: "The best team won as we could not match Maroons in defensive intensity and their desire to win.

"We struggled to score until the final quarter and could not hold them off our boards.

"We have never given up this many points in a league game this season so our defence let us down."

An 89-74 win at Durham Wildcats the following day helped the Dragons get over their derby disappointment.

The offence came out to play in the third quarter and hammered in 26 points, while keeping the home side to just nine, giving them a 60-45 lead going into the final quarter.

Dragons' top-scorers were Craig Wilson with 20 points and Eddie Davis with 17.

With Sheffield Sabres losing, Dragons stay third in the division and on track for the play-offs.

Dragons' next home game is against City of Nottingham Tribe on Saturday, tip-off at Zara Sports Centre 6.15pm.

Dragons under-18s beat local rivals Huddersfield New College 76-66 at home.

Chris Ettenfield top-scored with 30 and Darius Yeadon weighed in with 23, including 14 points in the last quarter.

The previous day they had seen off York Vikings 2 69-47.

The under-16s stormed back from a ten-point deficit in the last two minutes to beat Scarborough Seahawks 83-79 at home and the under-14s lost 85-45 at a superior Sheffield Junior Sharks side.