BRADFORD Dragons clinched an important 97-83 road win over the Westminster Warriors on Saturday, before falling disappointingly to fellow play-off rivals Reading Rockets 86-63 at the Dragons Den on Sunday.

The results keeps Bradford eighth, and in that all important final play-off spot in Division One of the National Basketball League with three games to go.

Despite the winning margin over Westminster, the visitors didn’t have it all their own way. A stunning 18-4 run early on for the Warriors meant they led 29-22 at the end of the first quarter.

But a 13-0 Dragons run halfway through the second quarter spun the game on its head. Jermayne Laing scored a layup to put the visitors ahead, with Kenny Ogunneye, Ricky Fetske and Andreas Lycoudis also on target in that spell to give the Dragons a 48-38 lead.

A seven-point surge from the Warriors reduced the Dragons' lead to just four points at the interval (51-47), and the visitors were still only five points ahead (72-67) going into the final ten minutes.

After the Warriors drew level, the Dragons took the game by the scruff of the neck, as nine straight points over a two-and-a-half-minute spell finally broke the Westminster resistance.

Back-to-back threes from Lycoudis put Dragons 87-76 to the good, before threes from Fetske and Dave Walsh ensured a 12th Division One win of the season for Bradford.

But the following day, the Dragons were slain in convincing fashion by Reading.

Early in the third quarter, the visiting Rockets were up by as many as 19 points (45-26), but then 14 straight points, courtesy of Fetske, Laing, Lycoudis and Rihards Šulcs (pictured), clawed the Dragons back into it.

But a rampant Reading soon pulled away, with the final score never really in doubt.

Next up for the Dragons is a season-defining home double header, where they will effectively seal their play-off spot if they can win at least one of their games. They play Derby Trailblazers this Saturday at 6.15pm before facing the Thames Valley Cavaliers the following day at 4.15pm.