BRADFORD Dragons calmed the Storm before getting blown away by last season's league and cup winners in a double weekend.

Dragons’ visited table-topping Hemel Storm in the National Basketball League First Division and had an amazing second-half comeback in a 77-67 victory.

However, the following day, Team Northumbria - last season's league and cup winners - strolled into the Dragons’ Den and left with the points following a convincing 87-59 victory.

Hemel had won six of their seven league matches before facing Bradford, who were just outside the play-offs with two victories from five.

To make matters worse, the Dragons, who scored first with an Oliver Hylands jump shot, were missing Rafi Saipe due to sickness.

But, it wasn’t long before the hosts went ahead through a Tom Adorian free throw and a brace of three-pointers from AJ Roberts.

Although Bradford managed to tie the scores, they were unable to stop the Storm from pulling ahead 19-10 after eight minutes, with two lay-ups from big American limiting the damage to only five points at the end of the first period.

The Dragons again drew firest blood in the second period via a lay-up by Spaniard Joaquin Calvo, and Eisley Swaine followed up with a big three-pointer to once again tie the game.

Nevertheless, Hemel turned up the gas to lead 35-21, and it was 42-31 at half-time.

The third quarter could not have been more of a contrast to the first half, however, with Bradford restricting their hosts to single figures.

Swaine hit a couple of big threes early in the period, while contributions from Sulcs, Hylands, Calvo and Jermayne Laing soon helped the visitors overturn Hemel’s lead.

But with just under four minutes of the quarter remaining, Sulcs missed the second of two free-throws and as Hylands stooped to collect the loose ball, his head made contact with a Hemel knee, resulting in an outpouring of claret.

The game resumed after a lengthy delay, and at the end of the penultimate period, Bradford led 54-51 following a 14-point turnaround.

Swaine again bucketed a two-point lay-up to stretch Bradford’s lead in the final quarter, but less than a minute later it was 56-56, but that was as close as the Storm got.

Within the final two minutes, Dragons had both Fetske and Sulcs ejected for reaching five fouls, causing a now heavily-bandaged Hylands to re-enter the court.

But to highlight the change in dominance, Hemel's Walid Mumuni missed all three of his free throws in the the final minute, while at the other end, Marcus Gooding sank four from four as the Dragons claimed a well-deserved victory.

Sulcs headed the Bradford scorers with 18, also taking 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Swaine capped another assured performance with 16 points, and Gooding came from the bench to add 13 points. For Hemel, Roberts had a game-high 25 points.

The following day, the frailties of the Bradford roster were beginning to show, with Hylands unable to play following his head iknjury, forcing Saipe to return to the bench, despite him clearly not being in good health.

In comparison, Team Northumbria boasted a stacked bench, having one of the largest rosters in the division.

The home side were never really in the race, as the visitors swept all four quarters.

Gooding headed the Dragons' scorers with 16 points, whilst Fetske recorded a double-double with 13 points and ten rebounds.

Laing - the Taco Bell Player of the Game, Laing - contributed ten points, as did Latvian Sulcs.

Northumbria’s Malcolm Smith notched a game-high 24 points, while Blayne Freckleton contributed 19.

A reflective Dragons' coach Chris Mellor said: “At Hemel, we weren’t great in the first half, but after the break I thought that we were very good defensively and everybody contributed in different ways to help us get the win.

“Against Northumbria, we started badly and just didn’t match our energy and effort from the night before.

"Being 15 down at the half, we needed a decent start to the third, and it got away from us early. We played a poor game, while they played well.”

The Dragons face another tough double-header this weekend as they travel to sixth-placed Worthing Thunder on Saturday before hopping across to Southampton on Sunday to face third-placed Team Solent Kestrels.

Dragons are at home to Reading Rockets on Saturday, December 9 (6.15pm), replacing the match against Manchester Magoic, who are in cup action.

However, any tickets that have already been purchased for the Manchester game will be automatically transferred to the Reading fixture.

Dragons' under-14s were beaten 56-50 by City of Leeds Black, with  Harris Manson scoring 14 points for Bradford and Rory Hopson 12.

The under-16s travelled to Leeds for a friendly against Mandela Warriors, which the visitors won 45-44.