BRADFORD Dragons extended their winning streak to five games with victories against Worthing Thunder on Saturday evening and Lancashire Spinners the following afternoon in an exciting and somewhat controversial end to the weekend.

Worthing are one of the biggest names in British basketball, having played in the franchised British Basketball League for many years prior to entering the National Basketball League in 2013.

Bradford opened the scoring when Rihards Sulcs stole the ball in his own key and drove the full length of the court to lay up for two points.

Yet it was the visitors who had the early momentum, forcing Chris Mellor to call a time-out with only five minutes played and his team sitting at the wrong end of a 19-10 scoreline.

It was an inspired intervention by the Dragons coach and just 90 seconds later the scores were all square at 19-19, at which point it was the visiting coach's turn to call for time.

As the opening period drew to a close, it was Worthing who again held the advantage, albeit by a single-basket margin at 29-27.

It was the second quarter when the Dragons inflicted the most damage, rocketing into a ten-point lead (40-30) within the first four minutes of the period.

As Worthing struggled to make a shot count, the home offence put in an impressive display to win the quarter by 31 points to seven, giving them a huge 22-point advantage (58-36) as the teams reached half-time.

While Worthing regrouped during the break, Bradford appeared to think that the game was already won as the West Sussex team took control of the third quarter.

Yet despite their dominance, they only managed to reduce the deficit to 15 points (79-64) as the buzzer sounded for the final scheduled interval.

That was enough to rouse the sleeping Dragons, who once again took charge of proceedings and notched their fourth straight ton and concluded as clear victors at 104-86.

Sulcs topped the scoring for Bradford with 26 points followed by Ricky Fetske, who bagged a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Lyonell Gaines finished as the game's top scorer with an impressive contribution of 38 points for Worthing.

The Dragons now have a league record of three and one, placing them in fifth position during these early stages of the season.

On Sunday, attentions turned to the National Cup as Lancashire Spinners made their third visit of the month to the Dragons' Den.

Bradford had won both previous encounters, giving their Lancashire rivals no better motivation for revenge.

It looked as though that was on the cards as a tired-looking home side took to the court in the first quarter and the Spinners raced into the lead. The first period ended with the visitors ahead by seven points at 29-22.

The second period started in similar vein, with the Spinners extending their lead to 12 – but Bradford managed to pull things around and when half-time arrived the deficit was back to just two points (52-50).

Still the Dragons could not get a grip and the Spinners again extended their lead in the third quarter (79-73), leaving Bradford with work to do in the final period.

With six minutes remaining, Bradford trailed by eight points (90-82) but, following another timely intervention from Mellor, his side clawed their way back.

A Marcus Gooding three-pointer levelled the scores at 92-92, followed by another three from Jason Swaine to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

The advantage swung from side to side but controversy struck in the dying seconds. With the Dragons a single point ahead (102-101) and the Spinners making a final assault, Mike Bernard lost control of the ball pushing it out of play.

However, to the total astonishment of Bradford's supporters, the referees gave the possession back to Lancashire.

In a desperate attempt to stop the visitors from scoring, Bradford fouled, sending Bernard to the line for two shots with only 0.1 seconds left on the clock.

Bernard sank both shots to give Lancashire what should have been the victory at 103-102. However, in a bizarre twist of events, one of the visiting bench prematurely stepped onto the court to celebrate the win, giving the referee no option but to award a technical foul in Bradford's favour.

Swaine stepped up to the line to level the scores, sending the game into a five-minute period of overtime.

The Spinners again took the lead in the opening minutes of overtime before a two from Gooding eventually put the hosts ahead – and as Lancashire desperately tried to regain possession, foul trouble gave Bradford the opportunity to extend their advantage.

In a game that neither team deserved to lose, the Dragons finally claimed their place in the quarter-finals with a 114-109 victory.

It was a fantastic team effort in which Fetske took another double-double (25 points and 14 rebounds), assisted by 24 points from Gooding, 19 by Swaine and a further 18 from Sulcs.

Mellor reflected: "We started badly against Worthing but a great second quarter saw us go in at half-time with a big lead and we managed to keep a double-figure lead throughout the second half.

"We didn't play well against the Spinners and would have had no complaints if we got beaten. But we just managed to hang around under ten points most of the game.

"Obviously we were fortunate with what happened at the end of regulation time but we still had to make the foul shot and close it out in overtime."

The Dragons are back in league action next weekend with a visit to Westminster Warriors on Saturday before hosting Reading Rockets the following day (4.15pm).

It was a mixed weekend for the Dragons' junior teams, with the under-16s travelling to Barnsley Leaders on Saturday to record a convincing 86-21 win.

The following day the under-18s lost 67-60 at home to York Eagles, while the under-14s visited Cheshire Phoenix Juniors II and won 76-42.