BRADFORD Dragons made it a clean sweep of four victories over Division One rivals Lancashire Spinners, leaving it late to claim a 97-94 win at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury.

This was the first meeting of the season across the Pennines – the three previous games having all been at the Dragons Den, two of which were in the National Trophy and National Cup competitions.

The home side took the lead within seconds of the tip-off, a Mark Rangeley three-pointer making their intentions clear.

Following a miss at the other end from Jermayne Laing, the lead was quickly extended to five points as former Dragons player Zion Tordoff sank two for the hosts.

Tordoff was partly responsible for Bradford's first points after fouling Rihards Sulcs, who was on his way to the basket, and the Latvian made no mistake from the free-throw line.

The hosts led 27-25 at the end of the first half and extended their advantage, with Rangeley bagging a couple of long-distance threes, but the Spinners could not pull out of reach.

Uncharacteristically, Marcus Gooding only managed to record a couple of points for Bradford, both from the free-throw line, in the entire first half – but the Dragons pulled the deficit back to just four points at 55-51 before half-time.

Three minutes into the penultimate quarter, Laing stole the ball and converted with a two-point lay-up to bring the visitors within a point.

Yet with 50 seconds left of the period, Bradford found themselves trailing by a huge 15-point gap following yet another three from Rangeley.

Then Gooding bagged his first points from the field with a long-range shot to leave the Spinners 86-74 up with one quarter left.

Home advantage was increased again and although Gooding took another three points, David Walsh immediately hit back with two for Lancashire.

Suddenly the Dragons clicked and slowly ate into the Spinners' lead and with 80 seconds left, Jason Swaine hit one of his trademark three-pointers to put his side within touching distance at 94-93.

At the other end, Tordoff missed his three-point attempt but Jack Hudson grabbed the offensive rebound. Missing his own two-point shot, Hudson then picked up his own rebound and drew a foul from Sulcs.

Yet he then missed both attempts from the free-throw line, allowing Eisley Swaine to take two points for Bradford at the other end.

With the Dragons now finally leading, Rangeley missed the opportunity to restore home advantage.

With only13 seconds on the clock, Jason Swaine drew another foul before converting both shots from the line to extend the lead to three.

The final action came with the hosts missing another three-point attempt as the Dragons pulled off a memorable victory.

Sulcs finished the game as Bradford's top scorer with 21 points, while Ricky Fetske bagged another double-double with 20 and 12 rebounds. Rafi Saipe contributed 15 points and Eisley Swaine 13.

Dragons coach Chris Mellor said: "We didn't play well and they were the better team for three quarters, really.

"I just kept saying try and hang around, keep playing hard, and we finally got going in the fourth at both ends and finished with a 23-8 quarter."

The Dragons return to action on Saturday, February 4 at Worthing Thunder, followed the next day by another away trip to Team Solent Kestrel.

The Dragons under-18s defeated York Eagles 73-83 at York College, while the under-14s completed a good weekend with a 68-65 win at Lancashire Spinners.

Meanwhile, Bradford have announced the departure of French player Florent Levazeux due to injury.