DERBY Trailblazers had to dig deep to beat a feisty Bradford Dragons side whose poor league record almost defies belief.
They sit bottom of Division One but the majority of their defeats have come by only a handful of points and Trailblazers had to overturn a 13-point second quarter deficit to beat them 82-72.
A strong finish to the second period and a dominant third gave them the momentum they needed, even though Bradford gave Derby a further scare with a 13-0 burst midway through the fourth.
Dan Watts inspired an incredible finish for Trailblazers. From 66-62 down, Watts found Chris Shalvoy for a three-pointer before taking the ball inside for two points of his own and then dishing off to Alex Dorr for another triple.
Shalvoy then found Dorr inside for another two and with Derby 72-66 ahead, Bradford called a time-out.
Rihard Sulcs added four points for the home side before Watts found Shalvoy open for another three. Bradford responded with a three-point play from JP Davies before Dorr and Sulcs exchanged baskets to take the score to 77-72 to Derby with 39 seconds remaining.
Dragons fouled at every opportunity to stop the clock and regain possession of the ball but Trailblazers held their nerve from the line to secure the win.
Derby went into the game light in numbers, with work commitments depriving them of Sam O'Shea and Lamar Morrison.
They held their own through a tight first quarter which Dragons edged 22-18 but were hampered as Dorr and Raheem May-Thompson were both called for two fouls.
May-Thompson tied the game at 22-22 early in the second but was then called for a third foul. When Dorr committed his third, Bradford went ahead 39-26.
John Gould nailed a three-pointer just as the buzzer sounded to cut the gap to 43-40 at the break and Derby started the third with a 9-0 run.
Bradford ended the third quarter strongly, cutting the deficit to 56-53, but the Blazers started the fourth with six unanswered points and despite Bradford's late fightback, they had done enough to record their eighth league win of the season.
BRADFORD: Sulcs 27, Davies 17, J Swaine 8, Lorenzo 6, Bantock 5, Szlavik 5, Lang 4.
DERBY: Shalvoy 16, Dorr 13, May-Thompson 13, Stewart 12, Watts 11, Goldsbrough 8, Gould 7, King 2.
Unbeaten Essex Leopards are the opposition for Trailblazers at Noel-Baker School in a Division One match on Saturday (7.15pm).
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