News article.

Yorkshire Dragons strolled to a commanding 94–73 victory over Loughborough Riders, just days after securing their place in the British Championship Basketball Trophy final with a semi-final win in Falkirk. The home side delivered a dominant performance, with standout contributions from Nick Lewis, David Ulph, and Jordan Whelan.

The Dragons entered the game riding high on momentum, and a strong first quarter gave them a narrow 20–17 lead. Loughborough opened the scoring after winning the tip-off, but David Ulph responded by converting one of two free throws to get the Dragons on the board. From there, the hosts began to take control. Nick Lewis drained the first three-pointer of the match midway through the quarter.

Corey Johnson added to the pressure with his first three-pointer, but the Riders fought back, overturning a seven-point deficit to briefly take a two-point lead. A foul on Jack Mielke and a successful free throw brought the game level again. Debutant Leon Rooney then sparked a shift in momentum with an impressive three-pointer, helping the Dragons head into halftime with a 38–31 advantage.

The third quarter started with tension, as the Riders upped their physicality and the Dragons grew frustrated over officiating decisions. Head coach Paul Cantwell called a timeout to settle his side, and it paid off immediately—Johnson hit his second three-pointer and ignited a scoring run, energised by strong crowd support.

The Dragons entered the final quarter with a healthy 69–56 lead and continued their dominance, quickly extending the margin to 20 points. The Riders’ head coach used his penultimate timeout in an attempt to regroup.

Despite the Dragons’ strong start to the quarter, questionable referee decisions left the home side confused and searching for clarity. Jordan Whelan made his mark in the final period, scoring eight points, recording a steal, and grabbing both offensive and defensive rebounds before being replaced by Rooney Ani for the closing minutes.

Comments from Paul Cantwell

Following the aftermath of Friday’s semi-final victory, Paul admitted to a slow start but was overall pleased with the victory.

He said: “I had a feeling that we would have a little bit of a hangover from Friday, following the game and the travel.

“But I will say, we didn’t shoot the ball well like we normally do, but we took away some of our actions, even though we were slow.

“But once we got going in the third quarter, we got to play Yorkshire basketball and executed things better, I felt like we got our second win, and that’s when we were allowed to keep on with that.”

Paul was very happy with how the weekend went after the quick turnaround of games.

He said: “It shows that we can dig deep when we need to, we can execute when we need to, but we still have loads of growing to do.

“We have had some roster changes, but I think it puts us in great stead.
“So there is positivity there, energy is there.”