BRADFORD Dragons knew that two weekend victories would all but secure their safety in English Men's League Division One with five matches remaining.

The Dragons faced two of their relegation rivals but lost 85-75 at Westminster Warriors before bouncing back to defeat Tees Valley Mohawks 93-85 in the Dragons' Den the following day.

Having already beaten Westminster in both their previous meetings this season, maybe the Dragons were guilty of complacency in the capital.

Yet a Nicholas Moore jump shot gave them the lead just ten seconds into the contest and they led by nine points at one stage before being pegged back to a 17-14 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.

That was as good as it got though as the Warriors took a firm hold on the game, opening up a ten-point lead of their own, and despite baskets from Moore and Rihards Sulcs in the last minute of the half, the hosts went into the locker room 45-39 ahead.

Chris Mellor's half-time team talk failed to make an impact as the Dragons found themselves falling further behind and Westminster led 61-43 at the midway point of the third quarter, before the Dragons revived to be 65-56 adrift at the end of that period.

A couple of Moore free throws reduced the gap to seven points early in the final quarter but Westminster stretched that to 15.

With 90 seconds left, the margin was down to just three at 77-74 but a Warriors three-pointer and a couple of two-pointers eventually enabled them to triumph by ten.

Moore hit a game-high 23 points for Bradford, with Adria Rodriguez Vinas adding 12 and Sulcs and Jason Swaine 11 apiece.

Sunday's tip-off against the Mohawks was delayed slightly due to technical problems with the electronic scoreboards – but once underway the start was blistering.

When the visitors' young coach Jared Fulks called the first time-out with five minutes gone, his team held a 14-12 advantage. However, the break seemed to serve Bradford better and by the end of the quarter they led 28-22.

A minute into the second period, Fulks called a second time-out as his side trailed by ten. That slipped to 13 but they revived to be only 45-39 behind, with Mellor now calling the time-out which morphed into a lengthy stoppage as there were more electrical problems, this time with the shot clocks.

That proved to be the half-time score but the Dragons improved after the break, Fulks calling his third time-out four minutes into the period with the hosts 50-48 in front.

By the end of the third quarter, Bradford were 67-62 ahead but, buoyed by reacting to a fourth time-out, the Mohawks levelled at 85-85.

That was their final effort as the Dragons scored the last eight points, Sulcs heading the charts with 23 points while Moore notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Jermayne Laing finished a fine display with 17 points and the evergreen Jason Swaine contributed 15.

Reflecting on the weekend, Mellor said: "Westminster played harder than us, they beat us on the boards and never let us get in any kind of rhythm offensively. They are fighting to stay in the division and they played with that sort of urgency.

"Against Tees Valley, we started well but a poor second quarter left us behind at the break. We played some good defence in the second half, got the ball inside and got some easy ones in transition, which helped."

The Dragons face a tough away double-header this weekend, at Lancashire Spinners on Saturday followed by a Sunday trip to Reading Rockets.

The final home game of the season is on Saturday, March 12 (6.15pm) against former British Basketball League side Worthing Thunder.

The Dragons under-18s went down 57-48 to QE York Knights on Saturday, while the under-14s beat Doncaster Danum Eagles 61-40, also at home. On Sunday, the under-16s lost 80-63 against Trafford Magic in Manchester.