THE Bradford Dragons were left to rue a disastrous third quarter at Hemel Storm last Saturday, as they slipped to an 87-79 defeat in their opening National Basketball League Division One season.

Hemel led by just four at half-time, but they racked up a mammoth 31 points in the 10 minutes after that to take an unassailable advantage into the final quarter.

And while Bradford won that with ease, they had just been left with too much to do.

In a low-scoring opening quarter, Hemel established a healthy 19-11 advantage.

But the Dragons fought back before the break, and took the second quarter 26-22, to trail just 41-37 at the halfway stage.

Hemel made the decisive move in the third quarter, winning that 31-16 to establish a massive 72-53 lead with just 10 minutes to go.

Bradford completely outplayed their hosts in the final quarter, scoring 26 points to Storm’s 15, but that was not enough, as they faced the long trip back up to West Yorkshire without any points to take home with them.

Jordan Whelan and Kofi Josephs scored 24 and 20 points respectively for Bradford, but their efforts proved to be in vain.

The Dragons are back in action this evening, with their first home league game of the season.

They host a strong Milton Keynes Breakers side at Calderdale College, their visitors having knocked them out of the KitKing Trophy at the quarter-final stage last month.