BRADFORD Dragons found Leicester lacking Warrior spirit as they defeated the visitors 104-70 at the Dragons' Den in English Basketball League Division One.

After an impeccable minute's silence in memory of Kevin Cadle, the most successful coach in British basketball history who went on to be a Sky Sports pundit for both basketball and American football, Warriors took a 5-2 lead through a Martin Gayle three-pointer and a lay-up from former Dragon Carl Pearson.

That, however, was the only time that Leicester were ahead as Rafi Saipe (twice) and Rihards Sulcs scored on the way to the hosts establishing a 20-14 lead at the end of the first period.

Early three-pointers from Marcus Gooding and Saipe forced Warriors coach, former England and GB international Karl Brown, to call a time-out within a minute of the restart.

However, Brown was forced into another time-out at 37-18, Dragons' coach Chris Mellor responding with one of his own at 37-23.

A couple of Eisley Swaine three-pointers put the hosts back on track, and the visitors, affected by a serious-looking injury to Gayle, turned round 50-25 behind.

Although Warriors scored more in the third quarter (27) than they had in the first half, Dragons scored 33 of their own to lead 83-52 going into the final quarter.

It was a scrappy ten minutes, however, with 17-year-old Jayden Martin getting a decent run-out for Bradford as they ran into foul trouble, capping his display with a three-pointer.

Swaine, who also scored a three-pointer on the run-in, finished as the game's high scorer with 23 points, and was also named the Taco Bell player of the game.

The in-form Saipe scored 20, while Sulcs notched a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Mellor said: “It was a good performance at both ends of the court.

"We had a big second quarter, which gave us a big lead at the half, and we maintained that the rest of the way. Five guys with at least 14 points each is a big positive.”

The Dragons welcome Derby Trailblazers to the Den on Sunday in the fourth round of the National Cup (4.15pm). Tickets are available via the Dragons website.

Dragons’ under-16s opening their account with a 62-47 win at York Eagles, but the under-14s lost 90-36 at home to Killamarsh Derbyshire Arrows.