Play-off defeat for Dragons

5:58pm Sunday 23rd March 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Bradford Dragons' first appearance in the English Basketball League (EBL) play-offs ended in defeat on Saturday.

The EBL Division Three North team made the long trip to EBL Division Three South runners-up London Met University and went down 76-70.

Dragons ended the first quarter 20-19 behind but, struggling on offence, they were 42-32 down at half-time.

London Met extended their advantage to 17 points early in the third quarter, but Dragons upped their defence and started making their shots.

By the end of that quarter they had narrowed the gap to 59-57 and it was close all the way up to the eighth minute of the final quarter when London Met led 69-67.

Dragons then missed some vital shots and allowed the hosts to pull away.

Chris Mellor, coach of the Dragons, said: "We struggled to cope with the athleticism and size of the London team.

"We did a great job in the third quarter to pull it back but we missed some key shots in the last five minutes.

"Nevertheless, we have had a good season in a lot of ways and we will learn from the experience and improve."

Top scorers for Dragons were Daumants Pabrieza (22), Eddie Davis (17) and Aaron Kay (seven).