BRADFORD Dragons remain rooted to the foot of the National Basketball League Division One table.
They were involved in a battle at the bottom away to Worthing Thunder on Saturday evening, with their hosts having only won once in the league all season and the Dragons without a single point to their name.
And now Bradford are four points adrift of anyone else, as Worthing won a close contest 84-79 down in West Sussex.
Play-off regulars, the Dragons’ focus may already be switching to avoiding relegation, with the bottom two going down at the end of the season.
Worthing join Milton Keynes Breakers, Nottingham Hoods and Newcastle Knights on four points with their victory at the weekend, so none of that quartet are yet out of Bradford’s reach.
The Dragons will feel they should have won on Saturday in truth, despite ending the first quarter 26-20 behind.
They edged the next 10 minutes to give themselves some momentum going into half-time, then won a low-scoring third quarter 16-12.
The upshot of that meant the two sides were dead level at 60-60 heading into the final quarter, with the crucial game on a knife-edge.
But it was Worthing who held their nerve, winning it 24-19 to claim that 84-79 victory.
The result was a bitter pill to swallow for Kofi Josephs and Oscar Baldwin.
The two summer signings dominated the points-scoring for Bradford, managing 25 and 24 respectively.
Josephs also managed 12 rebounds, with Baldwin producing seven.
But with Elijah Maynard (26 points) and Bode Adeluola (24) going big for the hosts too, it was a case of who could chip in with crucial points elsewhere for either side.
The Worthing roster had the edge on that front, the win moving them above Nottingham and Newcastle on points difference and up to 10th in the 13-team division.
Next up for Bradford is a crucial home game against mid-table Thames Valley Cavaliers.
That league game takes place this Saturday, with tip-off at Calderdale College coming at 6:15pm.
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