BRADFORD Dragons will not be making a second successive appearance in the KitKing Trophy final, after being beaten heavily in their last-eight tie against the Milton Keynes Breakers last Saturday.
After losing their Group 4 opener to Derby Trailblazers, Bradford won two games in two days, against Newcastle University and Nottingham Hoods, to go through as runners-up.
New signing Kofi Josephs, a former Glasgow Rocks and Manchester Giants player, who was capped by Great Britain in 2017, stole the show in both of those matches.
He managed 22 points against Newcastle on the Saturday, then put 18 past Nottingham on the Sunday, meaning he was in red-hot form for the quarter-final clash with the Breakers.
Milton Keynes were favourites to win however, as they had home court advantage after winning Group 3.
Despite a couple of tight games against City of Birmingham Rockets and Loughborough Riders, the Breakers finished their group with a perfect record.
They also had the reigning Player of the Week, Adrian Scarborough, at their disposal for the clash with Bradford.
Yet the first quarter of last Saturday’s last-eight tie was a seesaw affair, which ended with Milton Keynes just two points in front.
But without ever blowing the Dragons away, the Breakers steadily won each quarter thereafter with relative ease, going on to record an eye-catching 95-68 victory.
Scarborough managed a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while KJ Johnson and Nate Robinson helped themselves to 20 points apiece.
Johnson also recorded an impressive seven assists, when no other player on either side managed more than three.
Kai Walker was the only player in the game to record more rebounds than Scarborough, helping himself to 12 of those.
On the Bradford side of things, they were hampered by Milton Keynes doing an excellent job at nullifying the threat of star man Josephs.
He only managed eight points, four rebounds and two assists, as he failed to showcase the talent that had been instrumental to the wins over Newcastle and Nottingham.
Jevon Laidler was Bradford’s top points scorer last Saturday with 16, while Micah Savery-Richards (12) and Andreas Lycoudis (10) also made it into double figures.
Savery-Richards topped the rebounds chart for Bradford with six, while Lycoudis and Andre Gayle managed three assists apiece.
That comprehensive win for Milton Keynes has put them into a home semi-final against Hemel Storm, which will take place in November.
And it is the Storm who Bradford play next, as the pair face off in Hemel Hempstead this evening on the opening day of the new National Basketball League Division One season.
Tip off for the game is at 7pm, as both sides look to put their first two points of the campaign on the board.
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